Former inspector-general of police (IGP) Musa Hassan has filed a second attempt to strike out Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh’s defamation suit against him.
This time, the former top cop contended that it was because her current suit amounted to an abuse of court process, due to her separate appeal to reinstate her earlier legal action against him.
On May 3, the Kuala Lumpur High Court struck out Yeoh’s earlier suit on technical reasons, with liberty to file afresh. The former women, family, and community development deputy minister’s legal team refiled the suit at the High Court on the same day.
However, seven days later, her legal team filed a Notice of Appeal at the Court of Appeal, targeting the earlier decision by High Court judge Rozana Ali Yusoff.
Under the law, a successful outcome of the appeal at the Court of Appeal could lead to the reinstatement of the earlier defamation suit.
On Feb 26, the High Court denied an earlier bid by Musa (above) to strike out Yeoh’s earlier suit.
When contacted by Malaysiakini recently, Musa’s counsel Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz confirmed that the former top cop seeks to strike out Yeoh’s refiled suit on the reason of abuse of court process.
The lawyer claimed this was because not only has Yeoh refiled a suit at the High Court, but at the same time has a pending appeal at the Court of Appeal to reinstate the earlier suit.
“To us, this is an abuse of process, as this is an attempt at a second bite of the cherry. That is the main reason my client instructed me to file afresh the application to strike out their second (refiled) suit,” Khairul said.
“They refile the suit (an act of obeying the decision), at the same time they appeal the decision (an act of disagreement),” the lawyer added.
When contacted by Malaysiakini, Yeoh’s lawyer Lim Wei Jiet confirmed that Musa has filed the second striking-out bid and that they have the ongoing appeal at the Court of Appeal.
The lawyer added that they will respond via an affidavit in counter against Musa’s striking-out application.
On July 3 last year, Yeoh filed the suit over Musa’s speech at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), given earlier that year on Jan 30.
On Feb 5 last year, it was reported that Musa was being probed by the police over the speech given at a forum at UiTM.
The forum titled “Wacana Isu Semasa Perjanjian Damai Hat Yai 1989: PKM Menyerah Diri?” (The Hat Yai Peace Accords: Did the Communist Party of Malaya surrender?) was organised by UiTM’s Institute of Malay Rulers.
In his speech, Musa was alleged to have suggested that DAP had published a book over the purported role of the Malays behind the May 13 riots, among others.
According to a copy of the suit’s statement of claim, Yeoh claimed among others that the speech contained defamatory statements that are wholly untrue, disparaging, vexatious, spurious, fallacious, and without basis.- Mkini
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