KUALA LUMPUR (June 15): UMNO Youth executive council (exco) member Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris has denied that he is infamous blogger Papagomo in a court document.
Wan Muhammad Azri refuted the claim in a statement of defence against a defamation suit by former finance minister Lim Guan Eng and his son Clint Lim Way Chau.
The suit was filed on Oct 15 last year. Guan Eng, who is also DAP secretary-general, is suing Wan Muhammad Azri for spreading false news about him and his son.
The suit was filed because the blogger alleged that Guang Eng and Clint had taken RM2 million in undeclared cash into Singapore.
“A national UMNO Youth leader using the name, ‘Papa Azri’, started off this malicious lie by stating that I flew to Singapore on Feb 29, after my son was hauled up at Singapore Airport for bringing in RM2 million cash without proper declaration,” Guan Eng, who is Bagan member of parliament, said in a press statement last year.
Wan Muhammad Azri said in his statement of defence that Guan Eng’s statement of claim is false, and that the burden of proof falls on Guan Eng and his son as plaintiffs as to who Papagomo really is.
The blogger is refuting paragraph 3.1 to 3.4 in the statement of claim, which states that Papagomo is a member of UMNO. He is claiming that he disagrees that he is Papagomo and that the plaintiffs have to prove their statement.
Wan Muhammad Azri also stated that it is the responsibility of the plaintiffs to prove that he indeed is the owner of the Facebook account under the name Papa Azri as stated.
He also claimed that they have to prove that the defamatory statement in question was indeed issued by him on the said Facebook page.
“The defendant has never uploaded or published any defamatory statement towards the plaintiffs on Facebook,” he said in the statement of defence filed last year.
It was reported last year that Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau had apologised over a report which claimed that a Pakatan Harapan leader’s son was detained in Singapore for bringing in RM2 million in undeclared cash.
“Upon checks, the report was based on incorrect information,” said Nanyang in a clarification yesterday, according to the news portal.
