Former MPSP man drops defamation suit against Penang reps

Former councillor G Rajasegar (second from right) shakes hands with H’ng Mooi Lye (third from right) outside the courtroom today. With them are lawyers RSN Rayer, Ong Khan Lee and K Mahindra.

GEORGE TOWN: A former Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) councillor dropped a defamation suit against two Penang assemblymen at the High Court here today.

G Rajasegar, who leads NGO Northern Indian Congress (NIC), sued then-councillors and election candidates H’ng Mooi Lye and Amar Pritpal Abdullah last May.

H’ng and Amar are now state assemblymen. Amar is also the state’s deputy speaker.

In court today, H’ng’s lawyer RSN Rayer requested that justice Hadhariah Syed Ismail ask Rajasegar to apologise to the duo in court and award costs.

Hadhariah ordered Rajasegar to pay RM5,000 each in costs to both defendants without the option of filing a new suit against them in the future.

Lawyer Ong Khan Lee appeared for Amar.

Rajasegar filed the suit against H’ng and Amar over a WhatsApp message in a group meant for MPSP councillors and head of departments, Rayer said outside the courtroom.

He said when the message was sent, Rajasegar was not a councillor, but the messages, deemed defamatory, were leaked to him despite the messages being considered “privileged”.

In his statement of claim, Rajasegar said H’ng sent a WhatsApp message to the group claiming he had abused his power as a councillor.

Amar meanwhile was alleged to have labelled NIC as a “money-making” organisation.

Rajasegar filed the suit at the height of the 14th general election campaign period on May 3, when H’ng and Amar were candidates for the Jawi and Sungai Bakap state seats, respectively. - FMT