High court to decide in march on Liong Sik's application to strike out Najib's suit

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today fixed March 23, 2017, to decide on an application by former MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik to strike out a suit filed against him by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
Justice Datuk Nor Bee Ariffin set the date during case management in chambers, said counsel Villie Nethi who appeared for Dr Ling. Najib's counsel was Nor Emelia Mohd Iszeham.
Dr Ling filed the application on Feb 15 to strike out Najib's suit on the grounds that the suit was an abuse of the court process and that it did not state a reasonable reason.
Najib filed the suit against Dr Ling on Oct 27, 2015, alleging that the former transport minister had made libellous remarks against him in an article carried on a news portal.
In his statement of claim, Najib claimed that Dr Ling had falsely and maliciously made the libellous statement at an event at a university college here that was carried in an article on the news portal on Oct 3, 2015.
On July 18 this year, the court allowed an application by Najib to set aside the affidavit of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that was filed in support of Dr Ling's appliction to strike out the suit. — Bernama