KUALA LUMPUR: The lawyer for Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng, sued by an e-commerce firm for defamation, has asked for the suit to be transferred to the sessions court.
High Court judge Akhtar Tahir has given the e-commerce firm MonSpace (M) Sdn Bhd and its founder, Jessy Lai, until next week to consider the proposal, their lawyer Ivanpal Singh Grewal said.
Lai and MonSpace filed the suit in the High Court. The trial was scheduled to begin today but was postponed as a witness was not available.
Lim’s lawyer Guok Ngek Seong proposed that the suit be transferred to the lower court as a sessions court judge had jurisdiction to hear the suit and had the authority to award up to RM1 million in damages.
Defamation cases in the High Court have resulted in damages of up to RM500,000 being awarded when plaintiffs prove their cases.
Lai filed the suit in June 2019. She said Lim had claimed that she was running an illegal business and had cheated Chinese investors. The MP’s statements, published in the English and Chinese media, had implied that she was a dishonest person, she said.
Lai said Lim had made the statements in May 2017 and November 2018 when he took a group of individuals, purportedly MonSpace’s investors, to her office and subsequently lodged police reports against her.
She claimed that Lim’s statements had pressured the authorities, including the police, Bank Negara Malaysia and the domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry to take action against her.
Lai is seeking an unspecified amount in damages from Lim.
More than 70 Chinese nationals had lodged police reports at the time on a “misleading” investment scheme run by MonSpace. - FMT
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