Umno's Lokman apologises to lawyer, settles defamation suit

A defamation lawsuit filed by lawyer Rosli Dahlan against Lokman Noor Adam has been settled after the Umno supreme council member issued a public apology at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today.

The lawsuit was filed by Rosli over a video alleging he unlawfully profited from funds related to the recovery of 1MDB assets.

While reading out his apology before Judge Mahazan Mat Taib, Lokman, 53, expressed sincere remorse and voluntarily extended an open apology to Rosli, 64, for publishing three videos containing false and defamatory accusations against the plaintiff.

“When Rosli sued me, I removed all the videos. However, they had already spread widely and ‘taken a life of their own’, leading to similar defamatory claims being made by others on various platforms.

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“I hereby acknowledge that I defamed Rosli. The facts are, among others, that Rosli never claimed nor received any commission or 10 percent of asset recovery funds and that neither Rosli nor his firm, RDS Partnership, received RM1.7 billion from the settlement with Goldman Sachs. Those claims were defamatory.

“I sincerely apologise for tarnishing Rosli’s character, integrity, and reputation, subjecting him to public ridicule, and lowering his standing in society,” Lokman (above) said when reading out his statement of apology, which was obtained by the media.

As a gesture of goodwill to clear Rosli’s name, he pledged to produce an apology video and publish both the video and a written apology across all his social media platforms.

Rosli, who was present at today’s proceedings, accepted the apology and thanked all parties involved.

Lawyer Rosli Dahlan

During the proceedings, Lokman was represented by lawyer Hariharan Tara Singh, while Rosli was represented by lawyer Amiratu Al Amirat Saleh Garbaa.

Judge Mahazan then recorded the settlement based on Lokman’s unconditional apology and thanked both parties for resolving the dispute amicably without the need for a trial.

In April 2021, Rosli filed the suit against Lokman following claims that he and his firm profited from 1MDB’s settlements with Goldman Sachs and AmBank.

- Bernama