Lokman Noor Adam, Datuk (Photo courtesy of The Edge/Kenny Yap) -A +A
KUALA LUMPUR, 16 JULY: Former UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Lokman Noor Adam failed to set aside an interim injunction against him for his defamatory recordings against 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) lawyer Rosli Dahlan today, after being sentenced to one month in prison for contempt of court the day before.
The judgement was delivered today by High Court judicial commissioner Datuk Mohd Arief Emran Arifin, and the court then granted him a permanent injunction to prevent him from making defamatory claims against Rosli in the future.
Mohd Arief also set April 1 as the trial date for Rosli’s lawsuit against Lokman, in which he is seeking RM50 million in damages.
Datuk DP Naban, a partner in the Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership, and Joseph Wong represented Rosli today.
Datuk Hariharan Tara Singh and Fakhrul Redha Paridul represented Lokman.
Hariharan also told the court that his client had removed the two videos that had been accused of making derogatory allegations about Rosli.
Rosli had also filed a police report against Lokman, which was still being investigated.
Last April 5, the lawyer was granted an interim order against Lokman by the High Court, and he also filed a lawsuit against the lawmaker.
He launched the defamation suit against Lokman for allegedly falsely claiming that the lawyer earned 10% of the RM17 billion settlement paid to the Malaysian government by Goldman Sachs in the 1MDB case as legal fees.
Lokman further claims that Rosli paid RM500 million to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia from the RM1.7 billion in fees he allegedly received as a kickback.
Rosli, according to the legislator, benefited from the RM2.83 billion AmBank deal with 1MDB.
These were categorically repudiated and refuted by the lawyer as fabrications and lies.
Lokman was found guilty of contempt of court yesterday by High Court Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah for threatening 1MDB witness Datuk Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin and sentenced to one month in prison, which he is appealing.
Following that, Justice Sequerah granted a stay of execution while Lokman’s appeal was ongoing.
The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism, chaired by Cynthia Gabriel, issued an unreserved and unequivocal public apologies to Rosli for making similar claims on June 1.
Lokman Adam was held in contempt of court for intimidating critical witnesses. Witness in the 1MDB trial Lawyer Rosli Dahlan has received an apology from C4 Center for libelous online posts. Rosli Dahlan, a lawyer for 1MDB, has filed an RM50 million defamation suit against Lokman Adam./n
