Sinar Harian added as defendant in Kit Siang's suit against ex-IGP: Lawyer

Newspaper Sinar Harian has been added as a defendant in Lim Kit Siang's defamation suit against former inspector-general of police (IGP) Mohammed Hanif Omar, according to the DAP veteran’s lawyer.

Lim’s (above) counsel Rayveni Asogan today said that the Kuala Lumpur High Court earlier on March 11 allowed the plaintiff’s application to add the Malay daily as a second defendant in Lim’s suit against Hanif.

She said that the application to add Sinar Harian was filed in January.

"We were granted an order to add Sinar Harian as a party in the suit," she said.

"The order was issued on March 11. The application (to add Sinar Harian as defendant) was filed in January this year."

Rayveni said that following case management of the suit at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, the court had fixed July 15 to hear the plaintiff’s application to amend the suit’s statement of claim in order to add Sinar Harian as second defendant.

She explained that as the suit’s statement of claim has not been amended, the cause papers had yet to be served on Sinar Harian.

She also said that no trial dates have yet been fixed to hear the main suit.

Meanwhile, when contacted by Malaysiakini today, Hanif's counsel Muralee Menon confirmed the outcome of today's case management on the matter.

He confirmed that the court set July 15 to hear Lim's application to amend the statement of claim.

He added that on behalf of defendant Hanif, they will raise an objection against the application to amend the suit's statement of claim.

Lim filed the defamation suit on Oct 19, 2018, against Hanif over the latter's remark on Lim's arrest linked to the May 13, 1969 racial riots.

The suit is related to an article published in Sinar Harian on Sept 16 last year titled "Tun Hanif buat pendedahan DAP, PAS". 

In the article, Hanif was quoted as claiming that he was forced to incarcerate Lim for the sake of national harmony during the 1969 racial riots, among others.

Lim had described Hanif's remark as a "cock and bull story".

On Dec 20, 2018, Hanif filed a counterclaim against Lim.

In the counterclaim, Hanif alleged that Lim had defamed the former through social media and statements uploaded on websites in September 2018, among others.

Both Lim and Hanif had previously tried to negotiate and settle the legal action.

However on Sept 18 last year, online business news portal The Edge reported that both parties failed to settle even after High Court Judge Azimah Omar met both sides during case management to try and resolve the matter. - Mkini