KUALA LUMPUR: Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has filed a defamation suit against former president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for claiming he sought the latter’s help to drop his corruption charges.
The former deputy prime minister filed the suit through Messrs Shahrul Hamidi & Hariq on April 20 and named Dr Mahathir as the sole defendant.
Zahid in his statement of claim alleged that Dr Mahathir had defamed him when the latter claimed that Zahid seek for his help to drop his corruption cases in court.
He claimed Dr Mahathir who is now Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) chairman, made such statements during his campaign in Johor state election at Yayasan Kepimpinan Perdana on Feb 23.
It was reported that Dr Mahathir claimed that Zahid alongside several people had met him at his house.
Dr Mahathir claimed that Zahid wanted to ‘berbaik-baik’ (be friendly) with him after there were possibilities that he would become the prime minister for the second term.
Zahid claimed that several news articles were published by news portal from the alleged defamatory statements.
“The plaintiff pleads that the defendant had uttered the defamatory statements with malice and placed the plaintiff in a public scandal, therefore inciting hate from the public against the plaintiff,” claimed the document.
He claimed that Dr Mahathir’s statements were unwarranted, untrue, unsubstantiated, and mischievous.
“The alleged defamatory statements depicted me as a dishonest and untruthful person who could use ‘shortcuts’ to resolve the ongoing criminal cases.
“The plaintiff has never met with the defendant in relation to any court cases against the plaintiff or any investigations by government agencies against the plaintiff,” it stated,” claimed the document.
Zahid is seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages as well as an injunction to stop Dr Mahathir or his agents from republishing the alleged defamatory statements.
He is also seeking an apology from the defendant, costs and other reliefs deemed fit by the court.
It was reported that Zahid on April 4 also filed defamation suit against Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin over the same issue.-NST