The Court of Appeal has set Aug 8 to hear former attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali’s appeal in his defamation suit against DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang.
The appellate court fixed the hearing date during case management this morning on Apandi’s appeal in his civil action over allegation of abuse of power linked to the 1MDB scandal.
Counsel M Visvanathan, who is acting for the former government top lawyer, confirmed the hearing date set by the Court of Appeal registry.
“All submissions have been filed (by parties for the upcoming appeal hearing),” the lawyer said.
Counsel Simranjit Kaur Daljit Singh represented Lim during today’s case management.
Apandi (above) is appealing against the decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court on May 23 last year to dismiss his defamation suit over Lim’s article written earlier on May 6, 2019.
The appellant claimed that the article implied, among others, that he was involved in the 1MDB financial scandal, was a person with no morals and integrity, was unethical, and had abused his power when he was attorney-general from July 27, 2015, to June 4, 2018.
In her 100-page judgment cited by online business portal The Edge, civil court judge Azimah Omar ruled that Lim was justified in his statement urging Apandi to answer why he had absolved former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak over the 1MDB affair in 2016.
She also noted that it was strikingly evident that Apandi showed disinterest and indifference to elementary rule of law and even common sense.
The judge said this was observed when Apandi was repeatedly questioned by Lim’s lawyer over absolving Najib over accepting the argument that the amount of more than RM2.6 billion that the former prime minister received was from Saudi royalty.
“Although with the utmost respect, this court is pressed to express its disdain to the sordid extent of the plaintiff's self-contradictory testimony, evasiveness, and outright untruth.
“It is not exactly rocket science to appreciate the issue of the RM2.6 billion (which Apandi had declared as a donation) would be the core and fulcrum to his very own case swings and tilts by.
“It would be a grave remiss if the plaintiff were to avail himself to this court, without being candid and without being fully equipped to the brim, to justify his magnanimous decision to prefer the donation narrative to exonerate Najib,” the judge said.
‘Fantastical donation’
In her judgment, Azimah added that the former attorney-general had also contradicted himself during questioning by Lim’s legal counsel when asked about his 2016 press conference where Apandi had accepted the donation narrative and absolved Najib.
The judge pointed out that the MACC and other task forces had recommended criminal charges or at least an in-depth investigation into the “fantastical donation” and SRC International Sdn Bhd.
She noted that Apandi had said the MACC itself had met and recorded statements from the donors.
However, during cross-examination, Apandi admitted that the delegation did not meet nor speak to the alleged donor, testifying that the “Saudi prince refused to meet anybody”, she said.
She noticed that this was contradictory to his press statement in which Apandi had announced that a delegation had flown to Riyadh and personally met the alleged donor himself.
Former finance minister Najib is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence over an RM42 million corruption case linked to SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB that later became fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MoF Inc).
Najib is also currently undergoing the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial before the criminal court in Kuala Lumpur.
On July 5, 2019, Apandi filed the civil suit.
During the hearing of the civil action in April 2021, Apandi broke down in court while testifying against Lim. - Mkini
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