Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi is pictured at the Kuala Lumpur High Court March 12, 2021. — Picture by Emmanuel Santa Maria Chin
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 — The High Court here today dismissed Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi’s application to set aside an ex-parte injunction obtained by former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to restrain the former Umno Supreme Council member from republishing alleged defamatory statements on his Facebook page.
Judge Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril also dismissed the former prime minister’s application to extend the injunction obtained by him on March 1 pending the disposal of his defamation suit against Mohd Puad.
In dismissing both the applications, the judge said the court found there was no necessity to deal with both applications as the matter had lapsed since Mohd Puad had complied with the (previous) ex-parte interim injunction order to take down the impugned statements, which was the matter of Muhyiddin’s legal action.
“The impugned posting has been taken down. In these circumstances, I am not inclined to allow the applications,” he said and fixed December 9 for case management.
Counsel Datuk DP Naban and Rosli Dahlan represented Muhyiddin, while G. Rajasingam and Shahrul Fazli Kamarulzaman appeared for Mohd Puad.
Muhyiddin applied for an interim injunction to restrain Mohd Puad, or his agent, representative or anyone from republishing, reposting and resharing the alleged defamatory statements on Mohd Puad’s Facebook page.
Muhyiddin filed the application on grounds that the statements by Mohd Puad are false, defamatory and had tarnished the reputation and the good name of the prime minister locally and internationally.
Meanwhile, in a writ of summons filed in his personal capacity, Muhyiddin claimed that on February 8, Mohd Puad had published a post on his Facebook account under the name “DrPuad Zarkashi” with the title “Kuarantin pun ada dua darjat?”
He claimed that the post could be accessed by Internet users across the world and had received 1,200 reactions, 215 comments and 182 shares.
He also claimed that the post referred to “PM”, which is an abbreviation for the prime minister, and that the post contained untrue, unwarranted, unsubstantiated and mischievous remarks against him and had defamed him.
Muhyiddin contended the statements implied that he and his entourage had refused to undergo quarantine for 10 days upon their return from their official trip to Jakarta, Indonesia. — Bernama