KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has rejected an application by former MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik to strike out a defamation suit brought by Datuk Seri Najib Razak against him for the publication of an article which claimed he had misappropriated government funds.
Judge Datuk Nor Bee Ariffin made the decision after finding that there were issues which needed to be heard, among them the issue of locus standi and whether the case was an abuse of the legal process.
She made the decision in chambers in the presence of the prime minister’s lawyer Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun and Dr Ling’s counsel, Yeoh Cho Kheong.
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom later, Hafarizam said Nor Bee made the decision based on the case of Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob against Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd over whether Adnan could file a suit in his private or official capacity.
Yeoh said the court had decided that Najib needed to be given a chance to explain whether he had filed the suit in his personal or official capacity.
Meanwhile, in rejecting the application, Nor Bee ordered Dr Ling to pay RM5,000 in costs.
Najib had filed the writ of summons and statement of claim on Oct 27, 2015.
In his statement of claim, he claimed Dr Ling had defamed him in an article headlined “MCA's Liong Sik Joins Call For Najib's Ouster For Allegedly Putting People's Money In His Own Account”, which appeared in Malay Mail Online on Oct 3 that year.