Ismail Sabri withdraws defamation suit after contractor retracts statement made on FB

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s defamation lawsuit against a contractor over the latter’s comments on Facebook that the former had abused his power when he was rural and regional development minister has been settled out of court.

This follows Zaid Omar having agreed to retract the statement. In return, Ismail Sabri agreed to withdraw the suit.

High Court judge Datuk Mohd Firuz Jaffril recorded the settlement in his chambers after meeting counsel from both sides.

There were no orders as to costs.

Ismail Sabri was represented by Samsinaralia Sahar while Latheefa Koya represented Zaid.

When met later, Latheefa said Zaid would also post a statement on his Facebook page within 48 hours.

The statement will read: “I was sued by Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri, former rural and regional development minister, for a posting on my FB account under the name Zaid Bera on Sept 26, 2017. With this, I retract my statement and post this by way of settlement in full for the suit. I pledge to not repeat the aforementioned statement.”

Ismail Sabri, who is Bera member of parliament, filed the summons on Dec 12 last year.

In his statement of claim, Ismail Sabri had said Zaid had made the defamatory statement on his Facebook page under the handle “Zaid Bera” on Sept 26 last year.

He had also claimed that the meaning and inference of the statement was that he had abused his power as a minister by telling the Bera branch of Giat Mara that the appointment of contractors would be done through closed tender.

Ismail Sabri maintained that the allegations were false, baseless and made with malice and had affected his position, personal and political reputation, as well as character.

He had sought general damages of RM500,000, as well as aggravated and exemplary damages and an injunction to prevent the respondent from further making alleged defamatory statements.