Papagomo fails to stop enforcement of RM280,000 defamation award to Guan Eng

INFLUENCER Papagomo has failed to stop enforcement of a High Court judgment awarding RM280,000 in damages to former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng and his son, Clint Lim Way Chau, in a defamation suit.

High Court judge Roslan Mat Nor dismissed Papagomo’s application to stay execution of the May 19 judgment after considering affidavits filed by both sides.

Papagomo, whose real name is Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, 43, was ordered to pay RM200,000 to Lim and RM80,000 to Clint after the court allowed their defamation suit.

Lawyer Simon Murali, representing Lim, 66, and Clint, 33, said the court found that Wan Muhammad Azri had failed to establish any special circumstances warranting a stay of execution.

“The court found that the defendant was unable to show any special circumstances for this court to exercise its discretion to consider staying the execution of the order that had already been granted on May 19.

“As a result, the judge informed the parties that the defendant’s application was dismissed with costs of RM5,000,” he said.

Simon said the court also found that the possibility of enforcement action, including bankruptcy proceedings, if the stay was not granted was insufficient grounds for suspending execution.

He said Wan Muhammad Azri had also argued that the plaintiffs might be unable to repay the damages if he succeeded in his appeal at the Court of Appeal.

“However, the court ruled that there was no evidence in the affidavit showing these facts to assist the court in considering them,” he said.

Neither the plaintiffs nor the defendant were present in court, with both represented by their respective lawyers.

Wan Muhammad Azri was represented by lawyer Fazilah Jaafar.

The suit, filed on April 19, 2020, arose from allegations made by Wan Muhammad Azri on Facebook under the name “Papa Azri” that Clint had been detained at Changi Airport in Singapore on Feb 29, 2020, for carrying RM2 million in cash without declaring it.

Lim also claimed that the post gave the impression that he had travelled to Singapore on the same date after his son was detained at the airport.

The suit was initially filed at the Penang High Court before being transferred to the High Court here on March 23, 2021.

Judicial Commissioner Eddie Yeo Soon Chye, who heard the trial in 2024, died in February last year.

The case was subsequently taken over by Roslan, with both parties agreeing for the new judge to deliver the decision based on the existing notes of proceedings. - September 17, 2026