KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki has withdrawn his defamation suit against activist K. Lalitha.
According to his notice of discontinuance dated June 11, Azam had retracted his suit against Lalitha without prejudice and without admission by either party.
The defamation lawsuit was related to the publication of the article "Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does It Go?" concerning the purchase of shares, which was published by the news agency portal Independent News Service (INS) in 2021.
According to the notice, the discontinuance of the lawsuit was also made without liberty to file again and without an order as to costs.
The notice was filed by Azam's solicitors from the law firm of Tetuan Zain Megat & Murad, and was jointly signed by Lalitha's solicitors from the law firm of Tetuan Khairuddin, Ngiam & Tan.
High Court judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir, during the management of the case yesterday, vacated the trial dates for the case, which was slated to begin on July 9.
On Jan 12, 2022, Azam filed a suit against the former Centre for Combating Cronyism and Corruption senior researcher for allegedly publishing defamatory articles in the INS related to the purchase of shares on Oct 26 and Dec 15, 2021.
Azam's statement of claim stated that the defendant had shared links to the articles on her Twitter account @LalithaVelvet that were still accessible (at the time the suit was filed).
Azam claimed that the articles were sensational, scandalous and offensive, and were written and republished with malicious intent to give a bad perception to the readers that the plaintiff was a corrupt civil servant or one who has abused his position as a senior MACC official for his or his sibling's interests.
Meanwhile, Lalitha through her statement of defence filed on Feb 3, 2022, claimed that the contents of the article and her tweets involving Azam were obtained from legitimate sources.