IPOH, Feb 3 — Three years after winning a defamation suit against Razman Zakaria, Perak Amanah deputy chairman Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin will be taking the Perak PAS commissioner to court again, this time for bankruptcy proceedings.
Mohammad Nizar said that he had ordered his lawyer Mohd Fitri Asmuni to file bankruptcy proceedings against Razman for failing to pay RM200,000, the sum awarded by the court in the defamation suit back then.
“I had instructed my lawyer to submit bankruptcy proceedings because we had given him ample time to settle but he failed.
“Therefore, including costs and interests, he must settle a total of RM254,000,” he told Malay Mail when contacted.
Mohd Fitri said Mohammad Nizar made the decision because there was no payment made to his client despite a letter sent to Razman’s lawyer on January 23 requesting payment within seven days.
“The due date for the payment is supposed to be on January 29. I have checked with my office account, but no payment has been made until today,” he said.
“Initially, Razman’s lawyer had responded to the letter and asked whether the payment can be made by instalment. However, my client has rejected it and requested for a lump sum payment.
“I just receive the instruction from my client and we will initiate the bankruptcy proceeding within this week,” he added.
In 2016, Mohammad Nizar filed a RM3 million suit against Razman claiming that the latter’s statement was defamatory published in a local Malay language newspaper on June 2, 2015 had tarnished his image as a politician.
In 2017, the Sessions Court here ordered Razman to pay RM200,000 in damages to Mohammad Nizar after finding the PAS leader liable for the slanderous statement he made against Mohammad Nizar.
Razman appealed the case but subsequently lost.
Last November, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision to order Razman to pay Mohammad Nizar RM200,000 in damages over the article.
A three-judge bench comprising Justices Badariah Sahamid, Hasnah Mohammed Hashim and Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, in a unanimous decision, had dismissed Razman’s appeal.
Badariah, who chaired the bench, said the court found no merit in the appeal, adding that there was no error in the High Court judge’s findings which warranted the appellate court’s intervention.
She also ordered Razman to pay costs of RM10,000 to Mohammad Nizar.
