NFC’s Salleh after lawmakers for alleged defamation

He expects to have a higher chance of winning his lawsuits after the Sessions Court acquitted him on Tuesday of criminal breach of trust charges (CBT).

KUALA LUMPUR: Lawsuits filed by former NFCorp chairman Mohamad Salleh Ismail against Opposition lawmakers for defamation will now have higher chances in proving cases on balance of probability, the Test of the Burden of Proof in civil cases.

His lawyer Al-Firdaus Shahrul Naing said the Sessions Court acquittal on Tuesday strengthened Salleh’s position in these lawsuits.

“The acquittal and discharge (on criminal breach of trust charges) shows that he is innocent,” he said. “We will prove during the lawsuits that the allegations are untrue.”

On Wednesday, Salleh and former consultant Shamsubahrin Ismail settled their defamation lawsuit amicably.

“I apologize and express regrets to Salleh for any imputations on his character and for any embarrassment, distress and inconvenience to him based on my Facebook posting,” he said before Judicial Commissioner Zaki Wahab, adding that he took an undertaking not to repeat a similar statement against Salleh, his family and NFCorp subsidiaries.

Salleh accepted Shamsubahrin’s apology. “I never made any police reports against Shamsubahrin to accuse him of cheating me,” he said.

As JC Zaki recorded the settlement, he advised Salleh and Shamsubahrin to shake hands to end their lawsuit.

Both accepted Zaki’s suggestion and hugged each other, then said “thank you very much.”

On July 3, Salleh filed a lawsuit against Shamsubahrin for the latter’s Facebook post on May 19.

In Shamsubahrin’s post, he said he was made a “scapegoat” in the NFC scandal by the government to protect Salleh and his family.

Salleh has also sued Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli in two separate lawsuits.

On December last year, Salleh and NFCorp sued Nurul and Saifuddin Nasution, then secretary-general of PKR, for allegedly implying in a statement carried by Malaysiakini that he was greedy and had used his wife’s position to gain wealth.

Earlier, on 3 June 2013, Salleh and NFCorp sued Rafizi over a statement that the Pandan MP made during a press conference over the purchase of KL Eco City properties.