Egg importer, J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd has filed a defamation suit against former Gombak MP Azmin Ali over an allegation that businessperson Deepak Jaikishan had obtained the contract to import the eggs via direct negotiation.
In a media statement today, the company’s lawyer, Elyse Ng Zi Qian confirmed that the civil action was filed at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur two days ago.
The counsel claimed that they did not receive any reply from Azmin over the company’s earlier legal letter regarding the issue.
On April 3, J&E Advance Tech sent a legal letter to the former international trade and industry minister over the allegation, demanding RM20 million in damages.
Ng today said that the company’s legal team have sent out the sealed writ of summons, together with the statement of claim to Azmin’s addresses - including Pusat Khidmat Rakyat DUN Bukit Antarabangsa.
The lawyer added that the suit is set for case management before the High Court on May 16.
According to a copy of the statement of claim, the company seeks general, compensatory, aggravated and exemplary damages from Azmin.
J&E Advance Tech also seeks an injunction to prevent Azmin from further defaming the company.
The company is suing over Azmin’s speech at the “Ceramah Perdana: Solidariti Menentang Jenayah” gathering held at Dewan Dato Ustaz Gadzil Noor, Taman Melewar, Kuala Lumpur on March 11.
The firm said that despite its name not being mentioned during the speech, it claimed that the words clearly referred to J&E Advance Tech as it was the company in Malaysia authorised to import eggs from India.
J&E Advance Tech claimed that the speech implied, among others, that the company was corrupt, unethical, unprincipled and had committed a criminal offence.
The government had approved egg imports from India until June to address a severe shortage of chicken eggs in the local market.
Previously, the company had also threatened to sue Ayer Hitam MP Wee Ka Siong after the latter took issue with the price and quality of the imported eggs, compared to regular local eggs and those enriched with Omega-3.
However, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul said Wee could not be sued since his statement was made during parliamentary proceedings and is thus, protected under Article 63 of the Federal Constitution.
Deepak had previously denied links to J&E Advance Tech. Checks on the company information with the Companies Commission of Malaysia found that Deepak was not listed as a shareholder or director in the firm.
In a previous statement, Deepak also said he had lodged a police report against Azmin over the same speech, claiming that the former lawmaker had criminally defamed him. - Mkini
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