KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Court will hear on March 12 a leave application by a DAP leader on whether political parties could file defamation suits against individuals.
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Lawyer Guok Ngek Seong said his client Lim Lip Eng, who is Kuala Lumpur DAP secretary and Kepong MP, had posed a question to obtain leave from the apex court in order for his appeal to be heard.
“The question of law proposed to the Federal Court is whether a political party has the capacity to maintain a defamation action in light of the decision of Goldsmith v Bhoyrul,” he told reporters after a case management before High Court judge Rozana Ali Yusof.
Rozana has fixed March 19 for counsel for Lim and MCA to update her on whether the defamation trial fixed for four days from Sept 21 could go on.
Guok said if leave was granted, the trial date would have to be vacated as the Federal Court must hear the appeal and deliver its ruling.
On Feb 27, 2018, the High Court refused Lim’s application to strike out a RM100 million defamation suit by MCA over remarks he made against the party in 2016.
Lim’s appeal to the Court of Appeal last year was also dismissed on grounds that there were issues to be tried before the High Court.
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In July 2017, the then MCA secretary-general Ong Ka Chuan filed the suit against Lim over the remarks made at a press conference held at the Parliament building on March 15, 2016.
Ong said Lim’s remarks had seriously injured MCA’s reputation, adding that the Chinese-based party was seeking RM100 million in general and exemplary damages.
Lim had referred to information from his sources alleging that MCA had never used its own funds to give allocations to Chinese schools, and that MCA had instead pocketed public funds.
He had urged MCA to declare the party’s assets and show how much money had been given for Chinese education.
In his defence, Lim said as a people’s representative, he was entitled to question issues of public interest. -FMT