PUTRAJAYA – The Court of Appeal has set August 8 to hear Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng’s application for a stay of a court ruling for him to pay RM2 million in damages in a defamation suit that was filed against him by MonSpace (M) Sdn Bhd and its founder, Datuk Seri Jessy Lai Cha Suang.
The date was fixed during the case management before Court of Appeal deputy registrar Mariam Hasanah Othman today.
Lim’s lawyer, Wong Guo Jin, confirmed the hearing date when contacted by Bernama.
The hearing on the stay application will be conducted online, said Wong.
Lim is seeking to stay the high court’s decision pending the disposal of his appeal in the Court of Appeal.
On March 16 this year, the high court ordered Lim to pay RM2 million to the e-commerce company and Lai after it allowed their defamation suit. Lim subsequently filed an appeal on the same day.
On May 22, the high court in Kuala Lumpur dismissed Lim’s application for a stay of the high court’s decision, prompting him to file a fresh stay application at the Court of Appeal.
In the suit filed in June 2019, Lai said Lim had claimed that she was running an illegal business and had cheated Chinese investors.
She said the MP’s statements, published in the English and Chinese media, implied that she was a dishonest person.
Lai said Lim had made the statements in May 2017 and November 2018 when he took a group of individuals, purportedly MonSpace’s investors, to her office and subsequently lodged police reports against her.
She claimed that Lim’s statements had pressured the authorities, including the police, Bank Negara Malaysia, and the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, to take action against her.
In the high court decision, judge Datuk Akhtar Tahir said the court found that MonSpace and Lai had proven their claims against Lim for defamation and that Lim’s statements also tarnished their image and reputation. – July 25, 2023