KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has set May 11 to hear Datuk Seri Najib Razak's bid to do away with a full trial in his defamation suit against Pas' online mouthpiece Harakahdaily.
Counsel Nor Emelia Mohd Iszeham, who acted for the prime minister, confirmed that judge Datuk Hue Siew Kheng set the date during case management in her chambers this morning.
Nor Emelia said that Najib's application, under Order 14A of the Rules of Court 2012, seeks for the court to hear the suit on points of law without calling any witnesses.
Counsel Wan Rohimi Wan Daud acted for defendants Dr Rosli Yaakob and Taufek Yahya, who are Harakah managing director and Harakahdaily editor-in-chief, respectively.
Harakah is Pas' by-weekly print newspaper.
On March 18 last year, Najib filed the suit over the publication of an article penned by Rosli titled "Dana 1MDB biayai syarikat filem Riza Aziz?" (1MDB funding Riza Aziz's production company?).
The article, which touched on Najib's stepson Riza, was uploaded to Harakahdaily on Feb 19 last year.
Rosli's article had reproduced an article originally carried by The New York Times titled "Well connected at home, young Malaysian has an appetite for New York".
Najib claimed that Rosli's article had implied that he had abused 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds, among others.