Shankar (front left), together with Wong (front right), Bong (second right) and the legal team representing Dr Sim.
KUCHING: The High Court here yesterday rejected the application of Liew Tang Chieh from Advocates Association of Sarawak (AAS) to hold a watching brief on the hearing of counsel Shankar Ram Asnani, who was cited for contempt of court on Jan 12 when representing Local Government and Housing Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian in a defamation suit.
Judicial Commissioner Alexander Siew How Wai said however that AAS representatives could sit in the public gallery subject to Covid-19 restrictions.
The application was made by AAS following a court decision on Jan 12 that dismissed the defamation suit against Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen, and also referred Shankar to the Advocates Disciplinary Tribunal for the one-month delay in submitting the bundle of documents.
The court had dismissed the plaintiff’s claim with cost of RM30,000 after finding the explanation for the one-month delay for the plaintiff’s bundle of documents to be absurd and unreliable.
In the defamation suit, Dr Sim was represented by lawyers Shankar Ram and Dato Bong Ah Loi while Chong was represented by lawyers Michael Kong and Sim Kiat Leng.
Meanwhile, lawyer Wong King Wei was also present in court yesterday to represent Shankar Ram in handling the appeal of the court decision.
According to previous reports, several DAP state leaders including Chong had allegedly defamed Dr Sim through newspapers for failing to manage flood aid involving an allocation of RM800,000 for the Padungan, Batu Lintang, Pending and Kota Sentosa constituencies.
Dr Sim, who is Sarawak United People’s Party president, said all food aid funds from the state government were channeled to divisional disaster management committees throughout the state and not to the service centres of assemblymen.
He said DAP Sarawak leaders had repeatedly raised untruths on social media and newspapers with the intention of tarnishing his image and accusing him of abusing his position.
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