THE Kuala Lumpur High Court has ordered former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to pay RM400,000 to DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng before the year ends.
The amount is part of the RM1.4 million defamation damages awarded to the former Penang chief minister by the same court last month.
During today's in-chambers proceedings, Judge Roz Mawar Rozain granted a conditional stay, requiring Muhyiddin to pay RM400,000 by Dec 31 and the balance by Jan 27 next year.
On Nov 8, Justice Roz Mawar made a finding that Muhyiddin had defamed Lim over the former prime minister's statement on the Al-Bukhary Foundation's tax exemption.
The court also ordered Muhyiddin to pay Lim RM50,000 in costs.
On December 9, Lim filed a bankruptcy notice against Muhyiddin for failing to pay the RM1.402 million judgment sum, which includes RM50,000 in costs and RM2,000 in allocator fees, as ordered by the High Court on November 8.
Muhyiddin subsequently applied to stay the payment, citing the large sum involved.
Lim had filed the lawsuit on March 27, 2023, accusing Muhyiddin of making three defamatory statements on Facebook on March 9, 11, and 12, 2023, regarding the tax exemption issue. The statements were subsequently published by various newspapers and news portals.
Lim alleged that the defamatory remarks implied he had abused his position and authority by directing the Inland Revenue Board to impose taxes and penalties on the charitable foundation, which was not supposed to be taxed. - December 16, 2024
