KUALA LUMPUR (March 13): Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Tan Sri Azam Baki's defamation suit against whistleblower K Lalitha will now be heard for four days in July next year, instead of in January.
Azam's counsel Mohd Shahir Md Tahir said the trial dates are now July 9 till 12. Accordingly, the initial trial dates from Jan 8 to 11 have now been vacated.
He also added that the matter will proceed via Zoom before High Court judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir.
"The next case management is June 7, 2024, for the parties to comply with the filing of pre-trial documents," he said when contacted by The Edge.
The MACC chief filed the suit in January last year over a two-part article titled Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does It Go? — parts one and two — that was published on news portal INS on Oct 26, 2021, and republished on Dec 15 that same year.
Among others, the article questioned Azam's ownership of the 1,930,000 shares he held in Gets Global Bhd (previously known as KBES Bhd) as of April 30, 2015. The shares were reported to be worth about RM772,000 at the time.
According to the article, Azam's shareholding in Gets Global then dipped to 1,029,500 shares as at March 31, 2016, which was said to be worth around RM340,000 then.
The article also highlighted that Azam was a warrant holder of Excel Force MSC Bhd, in which he held 2,156,000 warrants as of March 2016.
During a press conference addressing the allegations in January 2022, Azam said his share trading account had been used by his younger brother to purchase shares in 2015.
Following that, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) said it would conduct an inquiry into the matter.
On Jan 18, the SC said it could not conclusively establish if Azam had breached Section 25(4) of the Securities Industry (Central Depositories) Act 1991 (SICDA), which provides that a trading account must be opened in the name of the beneficial owner or authorised nominee.
A day later, the SC clarified that it had decided Azam had not breached the said Section 25(4) of SICDA, saying the evidence it gathered showed that Azam was the named account holder and had control of his share trading account.
In his suit, Azam claimed that the two-part article was "sensational, scandalous", and written with malicious intent to convey a picture that he was a "corrupt civil servant or one who has abused his position as a senior MACC official for his or his sibling’s interests".
He is seeking an apology and RM10 million in general damages, aggravated damages, interest, costs and other reliefs deemed fit by the court.
In her statement of defence filed in February last year, Lalitha claimed that her sources for the reports were reliable and credible.
In response to that, Azam called into question Lalitha's employment history and her ability as an investigative reporter.