KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has filed a defamation suit against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad over allegations that he used his position to influence the latter to interfere in his ongoing court proceedings for criminals.
Ahmad Zahid, 69, who is facing 47 charges involving criminal breach of trust (CBT), corruption and money laundering charges in relation to Yayasan Akalbudi (YAB) funds, filed the suit at the High Court here last April 20 through the legal firm of Messrs. Shahrul Hamidi & Haziq on April 20.
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Based on the statement of claim, obtained through a search of the court system, Ahmad Zahid stated that Dr Mahathir, who is Pejuang chairman, had issued defamatory statements with malicious intent against him at a Pejuang event at Yayasan Kepimpinan Perdana, Putrajaya, on Feb 23, 2022. The event was held in conjunction with the 15th Johor state election.
A video recording of the defamatory statement was republished live on the same day on
Astro Awani's
YouTube account, which had 1.4 million subscribers and can be accessed via the Internet, he said and that on the day the writ of summons and the statement of claims were filed, the video had received a total of 23,443 views.
He claimed the video recording was also widely reported through various social media mediums namely the
YouTube account of
'MalaysiaGazette TV',
Facebook profile of
'Astro Awani' and
TikTok account of
'MalaysiaGazette TV', as well as online news portals such as
Berita Harian Online, Agenda Daily, The Malaysian Reserve, Malaysia Now, Malaymail and
New Straits Times.
The Bagan Datuk Member of Parliament claimed that the defamatory statement meant that he was a person who used shortcuts to resolve and postpone the trial of his ongoing court cases and used his position to influence Dr Mahathir to interfere in his criminal trials and investigations by law enforcement agencies.
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"The statements also mean that I am a hypocrite and cannot be trusted, that every action I take is suspicious and its transparency is doubtful, as well as trying to interfere in the country's judicial system," claimed Ahmad Zahid.
Ahmad Zahid said the alleged defamatory statements tarnished and damaged his reputation and good name, as well as his credibility as Umno president and Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman.
"Therefore, the defamatory statements were clearly issued with malicious intent to influence and give a bad and negative reputation to me as the top leader of Barisan Nasional, which indirectly gave a bad image to its component parties contesting in the Johor state election,” he said.
He is seeking general damages, aggravated and exemplary damages, interest, as well as an order to compel the defendant to publish an unconditional apology in writing in a newspaper to be determined by him (Ahmad Zahid) and costs, as well as other relief deemed fit by the court.
