KUALA LUMPUR: Former Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has succeeded in obtaining a judgment in default against blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin (also referred to as RPK) in a defamation suit over corruption allegations in relation to the state’s undersea tunnel project.
The ruling was granted by High Court judge Rohani Ismail after the controversial blogger did not contest the suit.
This was informed by counsel Kok Yuen Lin, who represented Lim after the case came up in chambers, today.
“The court will assess the quantum of damages later,” she said.
Lim, who is former Finance Minister, had on Sept 6, last year, filed the defamation suit over 10 articles carried on Raja Petra’s online news portal ‘Malaysia Today’ in both English and Bahasa Malaysia.
He had attempted to serve the writ of summons and statement of claim to the blogger by personal service at his last known address obtained from the National Registration Department and the Election Commission.
However, after an unsuccessful attempt to serve Raja Petra, Lim subsequently applied to the court for a substitute service wherein he placed a notice of the suit in three newspapers.
As of Feb 10, Raja Petra had still failed to respond to the notice to contest the suit and Lim subsequently filed for a judgment in default.
The allegedly defamatory articles contain images of what Lim claimed are documents from the MACC’s investigation into a RM6 billion project to build an undersea tunnel between Penang island and the mainland.
He claimed that the series of articles entitled “From the MACC Files” were published between Feb 24 and March 15, 2019.
Lim claimed that the blogger alleged that there was a “criminal collaboration” between the Attorney-General’s Chambers, MACC and Pakatan Harapan leaders to conceal corruption in connection with the Penang undersea tunnel.
He also claimed that Lim and other Pakatan leaders had been bribed.
In the statement of claim, Lim among others said the defamatory allegations in the articles had painted him as indulging in corrupt practices while serving as a chief minister.
He claimed that consequently, he has been exposed to humiliation, ridicule, odium, contempt, and public scandal.
Lim had sought exemplary damages on grounds that Raja Petra had profited from the huge volume of readership on the articles.
He had also, among others, sought a front-page apology, and an injunction to prevent the blogger from issuing or publishing the allegations.
On March 3, last year, Lim described Raja Petra’s allegations of corruption involving the undersea tunnel project as “ridiculous lies.”