KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said he will remove Facebook postings that were the subject of a defamation suit which saw a court decision today.
He expressed disappointment at the outcome in court, in which he was ordered to pay RM1.35 million in damages for defaming DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng over the revocation of AlBukhary Foundation's tax exemption.
"While I respect the decision of the Court, I am very disappointed in the outcome. I have instructed my lawyers to appeal against the decision as I believe that my statements were not defamatory and that I have a good defence to the claim and that the amount that was awarded by the court was excessive.
"In compliance with the decision of the Court, I will be removing the postings that are the subject matter of this action from my Facebook and social media accounts," Muhyiddin said in a statement today.
High Court Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain had today ordered Muhyiddin to pay RM1.35 million in damages for defaming Lim
over the revocation of AlBukhary Foundation's tax exemption.
This was following Lim, the former finance minister, who had successfully proven his case against Muhyiddin.
Lim claimed that the allegedly defamatory statements implied that he had abused his position and power by authorising or directing the IRB to impose taxes and penalties on the charitable foundation, when it should not have been taxed.
The judge in her ruling said Muhyiddin's conduct was unwarranted as he had resources at his disposal to verify and confirm whether his understanding was correct on fact.