KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wants to set aside a subpoena served by Red Shirts leader Datuk Seri Jamal Md Yunos to call him as a witness in a suit involving Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah.
In his application filed on Dec 19, last year, the former prime minister said he has no specific knowledge related to the lawsuit brought against Jamal by Chin for allegedly linking Bersih 2.0 with the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.
Dr Mahathir said Jamal’s action in calling him as a witness was made with malicious intent and was merely a political gimmick as he is not related to the suit.
He contended that the action was an abuse of the court process and even though he, in his capacity as the former prime minister and former Home Minister, was unable to help the court by giving evidence as he has no information or knowledge of the relevant facts related to the suit.
He is seeking for the court to dismiss the subpoena served by Jamal, who is also Sungai Besar Umno chief, on Sept 28, last year.
Counsel Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali who represented Dr Mahathir told reporters that High Court judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab had in chambers today fixed Jan 15 for case management.
On Oct 7, 2016, Chin, 61, sued Jamal, claiming that on Sept 28, 2016, the latter had uttered defamatory words in a media conference in the vicinity of the Putra World Trade Centre which was subsequently published and broadcast on several news portals, national print and electronic media.
Chin also claimed that on Oct 4, the same year, Jamal once again uttered defamatory words against her at the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters, and it was published on Oct 5 on news portals, national print and electronic media.
She demanded compensation for general, severe, and exemplary damages and an injunction order to prevent the defendant from repeating or rebroadcasting the defamatory words.
On Nov 14, last year, the High Court dismissed Jamal's application to subpoena Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun as a witness in the same suit.
The decision was made on grounds that Mohamad Fuzi was the Special Branch director at that time and had no knowledge of Maria's arrest under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).