KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor on Friday filed an application to strike out some paragraphs in the statement of defense, PKR vice-president Mohd Rafizi Ramli and another party in the suit on the issue of fuel subsidies.
The lawyers Choo Shi Jin, who represented the prime minister and his wife informed the reporters after the case was brought before Senior Assistant Registrar Nurdiana Mohd Nazari. In addition Rafizi, portal owners ‘Media Representatives’ Chan Chee Kong, also named defendants in the defamation suit.
Proceedings in the room was also attended by lawyers Ng Siau Sun which representing Mohd Rafizi and Chan. Choo said Najib and his wife pleaded delete some paragraphs in the statement of defense on the grounds that the defendants pleading not a fair comment. The lawyer said the court had also set August 26 for the case management of the suit.
On April 16, Najib and Rosmah filed the suit claiming that Rafizi was giving a speech at a forum defamatory related to fuel subsidies in Bandar Tun Razak on Nov 22, 2014. In his statement of claim, Najib and Rosmah claimed that the speech of Rafizi was recorded by ‘Media Representatives’ which are then uploaded by Chan or his assistants to the YouTube website.
In the same time, the portal Media Representatives Media Representatives under the heading ‘Rafizi Ramli: Why Do We Keep the Fuel Subsidy’. They also claimed that the footage was shared by Chan on Facebook Media People with it can be freely accessed by internet users around the world.
They said that Chan had failed to adopt the principles of responsible journalism by failing to take measures to verify or investigate the truth of the allegations contained in before publishing the alleged defamatory words. Najib and Rosmah also demanded the defendants to pay general damages, aggravated damages and exemplary damages to be assessed by the court.
Lastly, they had been also demanding that an injunction was to prevent Rafizi, Chan and their assistants from further publishing alleged defamatory words that require are not only an order for both of them which had issued a written apology in newspapers and magazines.
