KUALA LUMPUR – Former Penang deputy chief minister II P. Ramasamy, who was ordered to pay RM1.52 million and issue an apology to controversial preacher Zakir Naik, has withdrawn his application to postpone the apology.
Lawyer Razlan Hadri, who appeared for Ramasamy in today’s proceeding here before high court judge Hayatul Akmar Abdul Aziz, confirmed that the withdrawal came after a compromise was reached between both parties.
He said both parties have also agreed that the withdrawal is with no order as to costs.
However, after the proceedings, Razlan kept mum on whether Ramasamy would issue an apology to Zakir following the withdrawal.
Ramasamy, on November 2, was ordered to pay the preacher RM1.52 million and issue a public apology after the Kuala Lumpur High Court found his five statements, directed towards Zakir, were indeed defaming the preacher.
The court found Ramasamy could not prove the truth or appropriately justify the publication of his statements, including the one where he called Zakir a “satan”, as well as alleging the preacher to be involved with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The court also granted Ramasamy a temporary stay on the issuance of the apology.
Ramasamy later started a crowdfunding campaign to raise RM1.52 million on November 2 and managed to hit the target on November 9.
After today’s proceeding, Zakir’s lawyers, Datuk Akberdin Abdul Kader and Mohd Rafie Mohd Shafie, confirmed that the amount had been paid to their account on November 17.
They also confirmed that Ramasamy has filed an appeal against the high court’s decision at the Court of Appeal. However, no date has been set for case management. – December 1, 2023