Umno man given more time to prove he is not Papagomo

 

Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris is alleged to have spread false accusations that Lim Guan Eng’s son, Clint, had been detained while trying to smuggle RM2 million into Singapore. (Facebook pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has granted time to Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris to explain he is not the blogger known as Papagomo in a defamation suit filed by DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and his son, Clint Lim.

K Simon Murali, representing the Lims, said the lawyer appearing for Wan Muhammad Azri had yet to meet his client because of the lockdown in the Klang Valley.

“The court registrar has allowed for more time and we have no objections,” Murali told FMT after a virtual proceeding today.

On Oct 15, Guan Eng and Clint filed a suit at the Penang High Court against Wan Muhammad Azri, an Umno Youth executive council member.

They alleged that Wan Muhammad Azri spread false accusations that Clint had been detained while trying to smuggle RM2 million in cash into Singapore without declaring the money.

The incident stemmed from a Chinese vernacular newspaper report in March 2020. The newspaper subsequently published a retraction and an apology.

Last month, the Lims posed written questions to Wan Muhammad Azri, who had claimed he was not Papagomo in his defence.

Murali said these questions were posed as the defendant relied on the defence of justification (truth) and fair comment in response to the suit.

In court documents, Wan Muhammad Azri said he disagreed with the plaintiff’s statement of claim which referred to him as “Papagomo”.

“Paragraph 3.1 and paragraph 3.2 of the statement of claim (are) agreed, except that the defendant is known as Papagomo and places a strong burden of proof on the statement,” it reads.

Paragraph 3.1 of the claim states: “At all material times, the defendant, who is also known as Papagomo, is a member of a non-corporate organisation of a political nature known as the United Malays National Organisation or in short ‘Umno’.”

Paragraph 3.2 adds the “defendant holds the position of an executive council (exco) member in one of Umno’s party components, Umno Youth”.

Wan Muhammad Azri has refused to admit this and vehemently denies he is well-known in social media where his following on Facebook is in the thousands. - FMT