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KUALA LUMPUR: Former primary industries minister Teresa Kok today withdrew her offer to subpoena the leader of Malaysian rights group Azwanddin Hamzah in contempt for not respecting an out-of-court settlement.
Seputeh’s deputy had filed a lawsuit against Azwanddin over claims she made in a meeting for the late firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim that she was involved in a land dispute related to the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman temple.
His attorney, SN Nair, said he withdrew his request for contempt proceedings, as well as an arrest warrant, after Azwanddin appeared in court today.
“He gave the assurance that he will resolve the matter,” Nair said.
“In the meantime, we have decided to proceed with our bankruptcy petition against him in the Shah Alam High Court, and he agreed,” he said, adding that the Shah Alam court would hear Kok’s petition on November 16.
He said that in the bankruptcy process, Azwanddin would have to file his application to oppose his petition.
“If you don’t, we will get the court order in our favor and proceed with bankruptcy proceedings,” Nair said.
He said Kok chose to go ahead with the bankruptcy petition on “humanitarian” grounds.
“My client only wants the sum in the sentence for consent, not to send others to jail because they cannot pay,” he added.
Kok and Azwanddin settled the lawsuit in July last year, where Azwanddin was supposed to pay an undisclosed sum of money as part of the consent sentence and publish an apology in three newspapers: The Star, Sin Chew Daily and Sinar Harian.
Kok said she was never involved in the temple riots that took place in November 2018 and that Azwanddin’s statement was “clearly motivated by bad motives and malicious intent.”
