KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — An interior design and home decor company filed a RM3 million defamation suit against television personality Awal Ashaari and two others for allegedly tarnishing the company’s reputation along with its owner’s in connection with renovation work at the celebrity’s new residence.

Naz Empire Sdn Bhd as the plaintiff filed the suit through Messrs Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak on Nov 13, naming Awal Ashaari or real name Ahmad Awaluddin Ashaari as the first defendant, and Nawal Yasmin Mat Noh and Muhammad Hilmi Zulkifli as the second and third defendants.

According to the plaintiff, Nawal Yasmin and Muhammad Hilmi run a joint business under the name SomethingBorrowed By Nawal Enterprise and are accused of frequently sharing photos or videos related to home renovations or decorations on their Instagram social media site, @ houseofsix.my.

The suit has been set for case management before High Court deputy registrar Nurliana Ismai on December 11.

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Based on his statement of claim, the plaintiff claimed that on May 3, 2019, Awal Ashaari using his Instagram account @awalashaari sent a short message via Direct Message (DM) to the plaintiff’s Instagram account, @nazcarpentry expressing his intention to appoint the plaintiff as a contractor to do carpentry work for the first defendant’s residence in Sunway Damansara, Petaling Jaya.

According to the plaintiff, the defendant had expressed interest in using the plaintiff’s services and on July 19, 2019, the company sent two separate quotations to the first defendant who later told the plaintiff that the quotation had exceeded the budget.

The plaintiff claimed, the parties met on July 24, 2019 to discuss the quotation, and the first defendant requested that part of the amount in the quotation be sponsored by the plaintiff and in return for the sponsorship, the first defendant agreed to promote the plaintiff’s business on Instagram social media , Facebook and YouTube.

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The plaintiff claimed that on July 27, 2019 the company sent a final quotation amounting to RM320,240, and the plaintiff had agreed to give a discount to the first defendant for the renovation work of RM105,240 and would only charge RM215,000.

The defendant wanted a ‘sky roof’ and additional windows in his new kitchen that resulted in the plaintiff giving a new quotation. He again wanted to make changes and after discussions, on Oct 25, 2019, the first defendant ordered the plaintiff to temporarily suspend all work, via a WhatsApp conversation.

The first defendant also suddenly raised various issues and expressed dissatisfaction with the plaintiff’s quality of work which was previously never disputed. On March 16, 2020, the first defendant suddenly informed the plaintiff that the plaintiff’s services were no longer needed. On June 1, 2020, he asked the plaintiff to return the RM100,000 deposit and would take legal action and claim damages from the plaintiff.

Following that, the plaintiff claimed that the first defendant had allegedly started defaming the plaintiff on his Instagram and Facebook social sites and had uploaded a defamation post via YouTube on a link with the stage name ‘SchaAwal’ for the same purpose, and the second and third defendants had republished one of the first defendant’s defamatory statements via the Instagram application @ houseofsix.my.

As a result of these statements, the plaintiff claimed to have received various negative reactions from customers, Instagram social media users including false or cynical comments, tarnishing the plaintiff’s reputation and credibility as being dishonest in doing business and that the plaintiff took customers’ money and fled.

The plaintiff is seeking general damages amounting to RM3 million for all defamatory statements issued by the defendants, five per cent interest per annum, exemplary damages, excessive damages and injunctions to prevent the defendant from issuing any defamatory statements about the plaintiff in the future and other relief deemed appropriate by the court. — Bernama