KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — Property developer Synergy Promenade Sdn Bhd (SPSB) has filed an application to strike out the defence by former Felda chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad in a defamation suit over the Felda land issue.

SPSB, in a statement today, said the application was filed on July 18 after studying the defence statement filed by Shahrir on July 6 which failed to provide grounds on why he had made the alleged defamatory statements against the company.

High Court deputy registrar Catherine Nicholas fixed Oct 1 for case management of the matter.

On June 4, SPSB filed a suit against Shahrir, who was then Felda chairman, for allegedly making several defamatory statements between December 2017 and March 2018 which were published by the mass media and reposted on Facebook, YouTube and various news portals.

According to the statement of claims, SPSB alleged that the statements tarnished its reputation and caused it to lose several projects it was working on.

The company is seeking an injunction order to prevent the defendant from republishing the statements again as well as compensation of RM100 million, benefits, costs and other suitable relief. — Bernama