The Kuala Lumpur High Court today fixed Sept 12 to 14 to hear the defamation suit by caretaker Rural and Regional Development Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob's against the Sabah Publishing House and a newspaper editor over the turtle eggs issue.
The date was fixed by Judicial Commissioner Darryl Goon in chambers following case management today.
Lawyer Sasinaralia Sahar who appeared for Ismail Sabri told reporters that the date fixture is pending any applications that Sabah Publishing House may make.
Senior lawyer Bhag Singh, who represented the Sabah Publishing House, said the company os filing a motion for leave to appeal over the Court of Appeal's decision on April 2 that upheld the decision for the trial to be held in KL and not in Sabah.
It was reported last month that a three-member Court of Appeal panel in had Putrajaya dismissed the appeal by the publisher of the Daily Express, and its editor James Sarda, to strike out the case, citing jurisdiction, and ordered the minister to amend his statement of claim.
Justice Rohana Yusuf, while dismissing the appeal, ordered Ismail to affect the necessary amendment to the statement of claim with regard to the cause of action in West Malaysia through the website.
Ismail filed the suit in March last year over three Daily Express articles that were published between Jan 24 and Sept 9 in 2015, which alleged that turtle eggs were served to him at an Umno function in Sabah in 2015.
It was reported on Oct 9 that Sabah Publishing House, which publishes the Daily Express, had failed to strike out Ismail's suit.
The company applied to strike out the claim on the grounds that Ismail should have filed the claim in Sabah and not in Peninsular Malaysia, at either the Court of Malaya or in the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak.
The publishing company had also failed in its judicial review application in the High Court in Sabah in March.
The Bera MP claimed the articles implied that he was evading responsibility, had no respect for the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1967 and showed complete disregard for the investigation process despite being a federal minister.
Ismail complained that the newspaper continued to publish the articles without seeking his comments or views, nor those of relevant government departments as to whether he refused to cooperate with investigators.
Sabah Publishing House, in its defence filed in May, claimed that the articles published were not wrong and denied that it acted in bad faith against the minister and challenged Ismail to provide ample proof of his allegation. -Mkini
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