KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28n — A defamation judgment of RM480,000 against Universiti Utara Malaysia lecturer Kamarul Zaman Yusoff must stand after the High Court rejected his last-ditch effort to delay payment to Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.
Judicial commissioner Avinder Singh Gill ruled there were no special circumstances to warrant the stay and dismissed the application with costs of RM2,500, Free Malaysia Today reported.
On May 30, the High Court ordered Kamarul to pay Yeoh RM400,000 in damages and RM80,000 in legal costs for defaming her in two Facebook posts published in 2017.
Kamarul filed his appeal from the decision in June but delayed seeking the stay until last month.
Yeoh initiated bankruptcy proceedings after Kamarul failed to make payment despite repeated demands made on her behalf.
Kamarul’s lawyer, Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz, raised the bankruptcy issue in court, but the judge held that it did not amount to special circumstances and should be dealt with by the insolvency court.
Yeoh’s counsel Sangeet Kaur Deo conveyed the court’s decision to the media following the chambers hearing.
Khairul later told reporters that he would seek further instructions from his client regarding next steps in the case.
