Defamation Suit Sapura Rafizi Reach Consent Order Over Docs

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Sapura Energy Berhad (SEB) and Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli have recorded a consent court order for the company to hand over documents regarding the company’s former CEO Shahril Shamsuddin.
The High Court in Kuala Lumpur recorded the order during case management today.
Rafizi (above), who is PKR deputy president, had sought the documents to strengthen his defence against Shahril’s defamation suit which dealt with the issue of SEB’s financial problems and whether the then CEO’s salary was proper or excessive.
Rafizi’s counsel Navpreet Singh confirmed with the media today that the consent order was recorded before High Court judge Nik Hasmat Nik Mohamad.
“We reached a consensus on certain documents that we (Rafizi’s legal team) sought via the application,” the lawyer said.
Navpreet added that the Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur, where the main civil action is still pending, has set Aug 19 for pre-trial case management.
The case management before the High Court today was over SEB’s appeal against the Sessions Court order that partly allowed Rafizi’s discovery application against the company.
With today’s outcome, the initially set Aug 8 hearing of the SEB’s appeal before the High Court has been vacated.
Sapura Energy Berhad’s former CEO Shahril ShamsuddinShahril, who is currently Sapura Group’s president and CEO, is suing Rafizi over the allegation that the plaintiff’s remuneration was too high in light of SEB’s financial difficulties.
Three articles
The crux of Rafizi’s statement of defence was that he is ready to prove in court the alleged truth of the contents of the three online articles that form the basis for the defamation action.
The lawsuit is over three allegedly defamatory articles carried on Rafizi’s blog between March 31 and April 4 last year.
The three articles formed part of Rafizi’s then online debate with former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak over whether it was proper for public funds to be used to bail out SEB and over the root cause of the company’s financial distress.
Among the issues at the heart of the debate was whether Shahril’s remuneration as then SEB CEO was excessive.
On March 18, Bernama reported that SEB suffered an RM8.9 billion loss for the financial year ending Jan 31, 2022, and its subsidiaries were served with winding-up petitions.
Shahril was represented by counsel from Zul Rafique & Partners. - Mkini

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