Judge Datin Yeoh Wee Siam made the ruling in chambers.
Counsel Abdullah Omar Bawadi represented Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said and two others while Azhana Mohd Khairudin acted for Syed Azman and the three other defendants.
Azhana told reporters the judge held that the menteri besar could not maintain the defamation action against the four as he was suing them in his official capacity.
“The judge also ordered the second plaintiff (menteri besar) to pay RM5,000 costs to the defendants within 14 days,” she said, adding that the court had set Sept 10 for case management to know whether the other two plaintiffs wanted to proceed or withdraw the action.
On Dec 15, last year, the Terengganu government, the Terengganu Menteri Besar and Mek Hawa Abdul Rahman and Hamie Azreen Ami Nordin, who were given the contracts for the supply of school uniforms and stationery, filed the suit against the four.
They named Dr Syed Azman, Harakah’s permit owner Datuk Mustafa Ali, its chief editor Ahmad Lutfi Othman and printer Angkatan Edaran Enterprise Sdn Bhd as the defendants.
On July 23, the court struck out the Terengganu government as a party in the suit after allowing the defendants’ preliminary objection and ruled that it had no locus standi to proceed with the suit.
In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs stated that Syed Azman had defamed them through an article titled “Seleweng RM30 juta Bantuan Sekolah?” (Embezzlement of RM30 million in School Aid?) which was published in the PAS organ Harakah in its Nov 11-13, 2011, issue.
They claimed that the defendants had maliciously printed and published the article, which they (plaintiffs) understood referred to them.
The plaintiffs also claimed that the article gave the meaning that the state government and the menteri besar were not transparent in giving out contracts under the state’s school aid programme.
They sought general, special, aggravated and exemplary damages, costs and an injunction to prevent the defendants from continuing to publish the alleged defamatory article.- BERNAMA
