KUALA LUMPUR, 13 April 2009: The High Court has set 4 Dec to hear a suit brought by a former senator who is seeking RM60 million in damages from The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd (NSTP), Berita Harian Sdn Bhd and two of its journalists over allegedly defamatory articles.
The trial is set to be heard before Judge Dr Badariah Sahamid.
Datuk Muhammad Abdul Ghani, 63, is suing the two newspapers over their reports which he claims are defamatory for they implicated him in the cloning of car import permits (APs).
He also named journalists Hamidah Atan and Shamshul Azree Samshir as the third and fourth defendants.
Muhammad, who is a businessperson, said the defamatory articles were under the headings Senator in Cloned AP Scam published in the New Straits Times on 7 Oct 2006 and Syarikat Milik Senator Klon AP (Company Owned by Senator Clones APs) in Berita Harian on 8 Oct 2006.
In his statement of claim, Muhammad claimed that the defamatory words in the articles meant that he was a greedy and irresponsible person and was unfit to hold public office. — Bernama
