KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (TV3) will carry an apology to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during its prime-time news Buletin Utama tonight as part of the settlements in a defamation suit filed by the PKR president against the television station.
Anwar’s lawyer, Sangeet Kaur Deo, also informed the court that a similar apology would be made by Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd (UMMB), which was named the third defendant in the suit, in its newspaper, Utusan Malaysia, before November 2.
She said all parties had agreed to settle the case and asked for the court to record the consent judgment.
“TV3, as the second defendant, and Utusan Melayu have agreed to apologise to the plaintiff (Anwar) and withdraw the statements that allegedly defamed the plaintiff,” she said before Judicial Commissioner Datuk Faizah Jamaludin, who later recorded the consent judgment.
Also present at the proceeding were lawyers Azhar Arman Ali, representing Utusan Melayu, and Lim Qi Si, acting on behalf of TV3.
Anwar filed the suit on October 15, 2015, naming former BN candidate for the Permatang Pauh constituency, Datuk Dr Mazlan Ismail, as the first defendant, TV3 and Utusan Melayu, claiming that they had implicated him of bribing judges and prosecutors.
He claimed that Mazlan had called for a media conference during which the alleged defamatory words were uttered and then published on Buletin Utama and Utusan Malaysia.
Anwar claimed that the slanderous and malicious statement by Mazlan against him could be taken to mean that he was a person without ethics, was corrupt, dishonest and immoral.
The suit against Mazlan was settled last September 28 when Mazlan made an open apology to the PKR president at the High Court and gave the assurance that he would not repeat or republish the defamatory words against Anwar in future.
Meanwhile, met outside the court later, Sangeet Kaur said apart from the apology, the defendants also agreed to pay costs of RM130,000 to Anwar. — AFP
