SHAH ALAM, Aug 14 — Former Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim settled his defamation lawsuit against ex-PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail out of court today with both men apologising to each other.
Khalid’s lawyer Edmund Bon told the High Court here that both parties have agreed to settle the lawsuit, which Khalid had filed against Saifuddin last year over PKR’s report titled “The Decision to Replace the Selangor Mentri Besar” that the party used to justify its decision to remove Khalid as MB last year.
"Both parties have come to agreement by way of consent judgment," Bon said.
Khalid, who was sacked from PKR last year, and Saifuddin then read their statements apologising to each other.
Saifuddin agreed to stop issuing further statements insinuating Khalid as “dishonest and with no integrity among others”, while the former MB apologised if he had done or said anything to trouble Saifuddin.
No costs were involved in the settlement.
PKR’s contentious report, which was distributed to DAP and PAS last year, contained allegations about Khalid’s out-of-court settlement with Bank Islam, Selangor’s water restructuring deal with Putrajaya and the controversial Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) project.
In the letter of demand sighted by Malay Mail Online last year, Khalid demanded that Saifuddin retract his statement and issue an unconditional public apology in two local newspapers of Khalid’s choice within 24 hours of receiving the notice.
The former Selangor MB took issue with three points in the report that he said were defamatory: the accusations about his out-of-court settlement with Bank Islam, purported business deals with Eco World Bhd, and Selangor’s water restructuring deal with Putrajaya.
This was part of the ongoing crisis involving Khalid's position and his fellow opposition lawmakers who then have decided to replace him with PKR's president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
However, Dr Wan Azizah failed to become the state MB as PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang refused to nominate her then.
The position later went to her deputy in PKR, Azmin Ali.
