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PETALING JAYA: A former leader of a Malaysian rights group today asked the high court to review his arrest warrant, claiming that he was not notified of a contempt case brought by DAP’s Teresa Kok, contrary to claims to the contrary.
The arrest warrant for Azwanddin Hamzah was issued after he failed to appear for trial.
Kok, the former minister of primary industries, was allowed to initiate legal proceedings against Azwanddin for failing to comply with an out-of-court settlement on a defamation lawsuit last year.
She sued Azwanddin for claiming she was involved in the land dispute related to the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman temple.
But Azwanddin claimed that he did not receive any notification or call from Kok’s lawyer or the courts to attend the hearing.
“If I had received a notice or a call from the attorney representing Teresa Kok, I am sure they would have attended and cooperated.
“I have been in contact with the attorney representing Teresa Kok several times before and they also have my number and have contacted me in the past,” he said, in a statement, possibly referring to SN Nair.
Yesterday, Nair said that Azwanddin had been informed “many times to go to court.”
Kok settled her lawsuit against Azwanddin last year over a claim she made at a meeting for firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim that she was involved in the dispute over the temple lands.
Azwanddin was supposed to pay an undisclosed sum of money as part of the consent sentence, in addition to publishing an apology in three newspapers: The Star, Sin Chew Daily and Sinar Harian.
Kok previously said that she was never involved in the dispute over temple lands and the riots that took place in November 2018 and Azwanddin’s statement was “clearly motivated by bad motives and malicious intent.”
Azwanddin also said that he had already issued an open apology to Kok and that the report on his apology was released by Malaysiakini last year.
