KUALA LUMPUR – Former Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam has filed a countersuit against caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who had sued him for defamation.
In the counterclaim filed last October 11, Lokman Adam, 49, stated that he had deleted the video that allegedly defamed Ismail Sabri on his social media account as ordered by the court.
He claimed to have suffered losses in terms of income that could have been generated from the video and is seeking general damages, interest and costs.
On September 12, Ismail Sabri obtained an ex-parte injunction against Lokman Adam for him to immediately delete the video that allegedly defamed the prime minister on all his social media accounts – YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok .
An inter-parte hearing has been set on November 29.
Meanwhile, Lokman Adam, in his statement filed the same day (October 11), denied that the video defamed Ismail Sabri and that it was not produced with malicious intent.
Ismail Sabri, in his affidavit-in-reply that was filed last October 25, claimed Lokman Adam had made the defamatory video before the general election with the aim of damaging his political career.
He is also seeking the court to dismiss Lokman Adam’s counterclaim.
Ismail Sabri, 62, filed the suit against Lokman on September 8 this year in his personal capacity.
In the statement of claim, Ismail Sabri stated that Lokman had on August 22 made defamatory statements against him in a video, with the title “Bila Presiden Umno Panggil Tak Datang! Tapi PM Ada Masa Jumpa Mahathir - Lokman Adam” (When Called by Umno President, He Doesn't Come! But the PM Has Time to See Mahathir - Lokman Adam).
He claimed the malicious, defamatory and untrue statements were uploaded on four social media accounts belonging to the defendant, namely “Lokman Adam” Youtube, “Lokman Noor Adam Official” Facebook, “lokmanooradam” Instagram and “datoklokmanadam” Tik Tok.
According to Ismail Sabri, the words insinuated, among other things, that he had met with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and planned or intended to plan with the former prime minister and other opposition political parties to remain as prime minister by turning his back and betraying Umno.
Ismail Sabri also claimed that he had never met with Dr Mahathir and other political parties for the purpose, nor had he engaged in unprincipled measures to prevent the Parliament’s dissolution for a general election to be held so that he could remain as prime minister.
On September 1, Lokman pleaded not guilty in the sessions court to two charges of making and initiating offensive communications against Ismail Sabri and the government through a Facebook application under the profile name “Lokman Noor Adam Official”. – Bernama, November 7, 2022
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