KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 — Despite sharing the same surname, DAP advisor for life Dr Chen Man Hin denied today he is the mystery priest known as “Father Augustus Chen” said to have manipulated his party’s central executive committee (CEC) election two years ago.

Taking the stand today as the last witness in the defamation suit by DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang against Utusan Malaysia, Chen said rumours that he was the purported “Father Augustus Chen” was false.

“No I am not Father Augustus Chen… I don’t know who he is,” Chen told the High Court here.

The shadowy priestly figure featured prominently in a news report titled “Kit Siang Manipulasi, Pemilihan CEC” (Kit Siang manipulated the CEC election) by an Utusan Malaysia reporter, Kasthuri K Manimaran, published in August last year, to support claims that Lim had manipulated the CEC polls result.

The article heavily quoted a 16-page booklet, titled “Equity Report” by “Father Augustus Chen”, which claimed irregularities and vote manipulation allegedly to place cronies of both Lim and his son, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, on the part’s powerful CEC, among other allegations.

Lawyer representing Lim, Gobind Singh Deo, said Chen’s testimony today was important to prove that the so-called “Father Augustus Chen” is a fictitious character.

“I think it is important that the witness is able to clear himself since he was accused to be Father Augustus Chen,” Gobind told Malay Mail Online after the court hearing.

Lim had filed a defamation suit against Utusan last September as he claimed the state-owned newspaper was intentionally spreading lies to tarnish his image.

On August 21, Lim as the plaintiff’s first witness had testified that the allegations were a “figment of imagination” and “blatant and outright lies”, claiming that the Utusan article was part of “a plot” against him and DAP leaders.

Gobind had previously questioned Kasthuri on her reason for writing the article despite knowing of his blog postings calling the booklet a “tissue of lies”.

In response, the Utusan reporter said it was because the public was interested in the contents of the booklet and the DAP CEC.

“It was public interest. I was instructed by my chief editor to write whatever is in the booklet,” she testified then.

She also disagreed that she had done nothing to verify whether “Father Augustus Chen” truly existed.

“No, I did speak to some of ex-DAP (members). In my interview, they did say he exists, but I could not locate or contact him. It’s not true to say that I didn’t do any homework,” Kasthuri said.

The reporter listed Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim, A. David Dass, Wee Choo Keong and Jenice Lee as the former DAP members she had spoken with, when asked by the Malay daily’s lawyer, Mohd Izral Khairy under re-examination.

Both plaintiffs and the defendants have made their final submissions today and the High Court is scheduled to deliver its decision on December 10.