Court of Appeal orders Lim Guan Eng to pay Abdul Azeez RM250,000 over Penang undersea tunnel defamation suit

August 22, 2023

Court of Appeal orders Lim Guan Eng to pay Abdul Azeez RM250,000 over Penang undersea tunnel defamation suit

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 — DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng was ordered to pay RM250,000 to former Tabung Haji chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim by the Court of Appeal in a defamation suit.

Judge Datin Azizah Nawawi, who chaired a three-person bench along with Datuk Seri Mariana Yahya and Datuk Azimah Omar, also ordered the Bagan MP to pay Abdul Azeez costs amounting to RM70,000, according to Malaysiakini.

Azimah reportedly read out the ruling for the appellate bench, saying that the lower court had incorrectly allowed the respondent Lim’s defence of justification, fair comment and qualified privilege in the statements the appellant Abdul Azeez claimed were defamatory.

“There is no evidence of the respondent reaching out to the appellant, there was no verification exercise.

“There was hastiness in the respondent publicising the defamatory statement,” Azimah was reported saying by the online news portal.

She reportedly added that Lim had not issued the statements in good faith in the public interest but for political interest as the 14th general elections were around the corner at that time.

Abdul Azeez was appealing against the decision by the High Court in Penang, which dismissed his lawsuit against the former Penang chief minister.

The Baling MP reportedly claimed that Lim had made defamatory statements linking him to a payment of RM3 million as consultation fees from the developer of the Penang undersea tunnel project.

He reportedly sought general and exemplary damages, as well as other relief which the court deems appropriate.

The report said that Porres Royan represented Abdul Azeez while Felix Lim represented Lim.

Abdul Azeez sued Lim in March 2018 over statements the latter made during a press conference at the Penang Chief Minister’s Office on February 28, 2018, and during a Chinese New Year open house hosted by the Penang Development Corporation on the same day.