PKR man says won’t withdraw RM2m suit against Hadi
(MM) – Former Bukit Besi PKR candidate Mohd Shamsul Mat Amin has refused to drop his RM2 million defamation suit against Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, pointing out that the PAS president has yet to apologise for his slanderous remarks.
Mohd Shamsul also claimed that no conditions for the withdrawal of his suit have been outlined, and that PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail did not meet him to discuss the matter.
“I have given them many chances and time to come and see me, but from the day I filed the case till today I have not been contacted or asked to discuss,” the Dungun PKR youth chief was quoted as saying by Malay dailies Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian today.
The Umno-owned papers also quoted Mohd Shamsul as saying that both Anwar and Saifuddin had previously “advised” him to drop the suit against the PAS chief.
The High Court has scheduled April 14 for the hearing of the application to set aside the default judgement order on the RM2 million defamation suit.
The Kuala Terengganu High Court deputy registrar Mohamad Nasrudin Mohamed set the date after giving the plaintiff, Mohd Shamsul, time to respond to an affidavit filed by the defendant earlier.
Mohd Shamsul was present in court yesterday while Hadi was absent but represented by his lawyer Asmuni Awi.
According to Asmuni, Mohd Shamsul’s lawyer A. Vasudevan had applied for a postponement after claiming they have new information to be included in their affidavit-in-reply.
“When Hadi decided to put an application to set aside the judgment, I assumed they wanted to fight so I will fight as well,” Mohd Shamsul said today.
On February 23, the Kuala Terengganu High Court ordered Abdul Hadi to pay RM2 million in damages to Mohd Shamsul for the defamation suit he filed on December 5 last year.
Mohd Shamsul won a judgement in default in December last year, after Hadi failed to appear in court to respond to the suit.
He had sued Hadi over his statement that there was a drug dealer among PKR’s general election candidates last year, which was used an excuse by Pas to nominate their own candidates in the seats allocated to PKR resulting in a three-cornered fight in Bukit Besi.
In his statement of claim, Mohd Shamsul claimed that Abdul Hadi’s speech in Kampung Tebakang Alor Limbat, Marang on April 22 had tarnished his reputation as a candidate and businessman.
