I M Not Papagomo Says Blogger Facing Defamation Suit

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Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris had relied on the defence of justification and fair comment in response to the defamation suit.KUALA LUMPUR: Blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, who is facing a defamation suit filed by former finance minister Lim Guan Eng and his son, Clint, has denied that he is Papagomo.
In written questions to lawyers for the Lims, Wan Muhammad also denied that he had a Facebook account under the name of Papa Azri.
He has also denied defaming the Lims by publishing a statement in the Facebook account on March 14, 2020.
The answers to the three questions were contained in interrogatories dated March 3 as ordered by High Court judge Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz on Feb 15.
Interrogatories are written questions asked by one party to a suit, to which the other party has to give written answers under oath.
Lawyer K Simon Murali, representing the Lims, said case management was held online today before a deputy registrar to update the court on the answers given by the defendant to the interrogatories.
He said another case management would be held on Dec 13.
Norfazilah Jaafar represented Wan Muhammad.
The Lims alleged that Wan Muhammad spread false accusations that Clint had been detained while trying to smuggle RM2 million in cash into Singapore without declaring the money.
The incident stemmed from a Chinese newspaper report in March 2020. The newspaper subsequently published a retraction and an apology.
The Lims had earlier posed written questions to Wan Muhammad, who had claimed he was not Papagomo in his defence. However, he was evasive over the first three questions but answered the following five.
This led the Lims to get a court order to compel Wan Muhammad to answer the three questions in a “yes” or “no” manner.
Murali said the questions were posed as the defendant had relied on the defence of justification and fair comment in response to the suit.
In court documents, Wan Muhammad denied the plaintiff’s statement of claim that referred to him as Papagomo and the publication of the defamatory article in a Facebook account. - FMT

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