KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 — Segambut Member of Parliament (MP) Hannah Yeoh has filed a bankruptcy notice against Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) lecturer Dr Kamarul Zaman Yusoff for failing to pay her more than RM400,000 in damages and costs ordered by a High Court for defaming her eight years ago.
Her lawyer, Sangeet Kaur Deo, said the notice was filed at the High Court here last July 9.
“Kamarul Zaman failed to pay the damages of RM400,000 and costs of RM80,000 ordered by the High Court on May 30, so we have commenced bankruptcy proceedings against him.
“However, we were not able to serve the bankruptcy notice on Kamarul Zaman, therefore we obtained an order from the court on July 29 to serve it through alternative services, including newspaper advertisements,” she said when contacted by reporters today.
Meanwhile, Sangeet Kau said Kamarul Zaman had applied to stay the court’s decision last July, as he had filed an appeal against the decision at the Court of Appeal
She said that since the application for the stay will only be heard on Aug 28, Hannah is entitled to enforce the court’s judgment of May 30.
On May 30, Judge Datuk Aliza Sulaiman ruled in Hannah’s favour and ordered Kamarul Zaman to pay RM400,000 in damages for the defamatory remarks he made eight years ago.
Judge Aliza, in allowing Hannah’s claim, said there was no merit in Kamarul Zaman’s submission that she lacked locus standi to initiate the suit.
The defamation suit, filed in 2022, arose from two Facebook posts made by Kamarul Zaman between May 10 and May 17, 2017, in which he alleged that Hannah had a proselytising agenda and was using her political platform to advance Christianity.
He also cited her autobiography, Becoming Hannah: A Personal Journey, as evidence of her purported Christian agenda, further alleging that she sought to turn Malaysia into a Christian nation.
In his statement of defence, Kamarul Zaman denied that the posts were defamatory and asserted that his statements were justified. — Bernama
