KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 ― The defamation suit filed by Sungai Buloh Member of Parliament R. Sivarasa against Umno treasurer Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor is expected to be resolved amicably with parties involved given until next week to settle the case.

Lawyer Latheefa Koya, representing Sivarasa, said the High Court set November 9 for further management of the case to be informed on the status of the settlement between parties involved.

“We are now in the process of preparing the terms of the settlement,” she told reporters after the case management in the chambers of Judicial Commissioner Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh today.

Also present was Tengku Adnan’s lawyer, Datuk S. Satharuban.

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The suit was filed by Sivarasa, then the Subang Member of Parliament, on June 1 last year, against Tengku Adnan, who was then Umno secretary-general, over alleged defamatory remarks made by the Putrajaya Member of Parliament, in his speech at a breaking-of-fast at Masjid Jamek Alam Shah mosque in Cheras.

In the statement of claim, Sivarasa alleged that the remarks implied that he did not respect a place of worship for Muslims when using a mosque for political purposes, disrespecting the purity of the mosque or surau in the month of Ramadan.

The defamatory remarks were republished in Malaysiakini website, the print and electronic media.

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The plaintiff also claimed that Tengku Adnan had the knowledge of his statement on May 31, 2017,  which denied that he had made political talks at an event at Masjid An-Nur in Kampung Melayu Subang on May 24, 2017.

Sivarasa had sought  general and aggravated damages, interest and costs as well as an injunction order to prevent the defendant (Tengku Adnan) from reproducing the same defamatory words against him. ― Bernama