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Lawyer sues MP over alleged defamatory remarks

Friday, 13 January 2012 09:01am

©The Star (Used by permission)

KUALA LUMPUR: Veteran lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon is suing Padang Serai MP N. Gobalakrishnan and three others for RM2.5mil over alleged defamatory remarks on his character.

Manjeet said the remarks implied that his conduct in the ongoing murder trial of cosmetics millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya, where he is lead counsel for accused N. Pathmanabhan, is designed to show weakness of national institutions.

The three others are publisher Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd, its journalist Raja Syahrir Abu Bakar and Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Bhd (TV3).

In his claim, he said Gobalakrishnan and Utusan had portrayed him as a person who is in the habit of utilising underhanded tactics to continuously demean the government institutions, in particular the judicial system and the police force, at the behest of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim with the sole purpose of enticing public hatred against these institutions.

Manjeet said the allegations made were designed to impute impropriety on his part by falsely and maliciously accusing him, including for implying that he represented Anwar in the sodomy trial.

Yesterday, High Court judge Dr Prasad Sandosham Abraham ordered TV3 to produce audio visual recordings of the news item broadcast at 8pm on Aug 16 last year.

The judge issued the order after meeting the parties in chambers.

Counsel Americk Sidhu acted for Manjeet, lawyer Hasnal Rezua Merican represented Gobalakrishnan, lawyers Kenn Gee and Jason Wee for TV3 and lawyer Sarah Abishegam appeared on behalf of Utusan.

Case management has been set for Feb 9.

In the lawsuit filed on Sept 26 last year, Manjeet said Gobalakrishnan gave an interview to the media on Aug 16, in which he falsely made derogatory remarks against him.

He said Raja Syahrir had prepared a report of the interview and published by Utusan in its newspaper dated Aug 17 last year under the title Manjeet selalu burukkan kerajaan (Manjeet always smears the Government) with reckless disregard to the truth of the contents.

He said a substantial part of the entire interview was broadcast on TV3 on Aug 16.

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