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PETALING JAYA: An aide to an opposition deputy said that he will request to set aside a default judgment of RM8 million in the appearance brought against him by a political analyst in a libel suit.
Abdul Aziz Isa, who is special assistant to Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) chief Chong Chieng Jen, said he never received the subpoena and statement of claims (SoC) order issued by Azril & Associates on behalf of Kamarul Zaman Yusoff.
Aziz said he only learned of the sentence through social media when Kamarul posted the news on his Facebook account stating that a Superior Court had handed down a judgment against him on November 6.
“The news took me by surprise,” he said in a statement.
Aziz added that he did not know how he was sentenced in absentia when “he had never received the subpoena and SoC in the first place.”
Aziz said he had consulted his lawyers to file a request to vacate the sentence.
Kamarul, a professor at Universiti Utara Malaysia, said yesterday that he had been awarded RM8 million in damages in his defamation lawsuit against Aziz.
In a Facebook post, Kamarul said that the Kuala Lumpur High Court had also awarded RM 10,000 in legal costs and that Aziz was required to pay 4% interest per annum on the judgment sum until the damages were paid in full.
Kamarul said that Aziz had defamed him through social media posts and opinion pieces that questioned Kamarul’s academic credentials and implied that he was afraid of Christians.
Kamarul had also filed similar lawsuits against Chong, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang, Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng and Ipoh MP Timur Wong Kah Woh.
Meanwhile, attorney M. Visvanathan said Aziz would have no problem overturning the verdict, as it was wrong to award a colossal sum without going through an evaluation process.
“Damages must be assessed by calling witnesses,” he said, adding that the defamation claims were classified as unliquidated damages.
He said Superior Court rules also allowed for annulment when damages were “ridiculous and outrageous.”
“Family members of prisoners who lose their lives while in police custody receive a maximum of RM 400,000 in damages. Such an award for loss of reputation is ridiculous, “he added.
The highest reputational loss pay in the past five years went to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who won RM951,000 against controversial blogger Papagomo in 2017.
