Mukhriz fails to initiate contempt proceedings against Najib

PUTRAJAYA: Former Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir failed to initiate contempt proceedings against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak once again.
The Court of Appeal today upheld the previous decision by the High Court and ruled that Mukhriz in his application failed to establish a prima facie case of contempt of court against Najib and ordered him to pay costs of RM10,000.
Mukhriz had filed the application against Najib for allegedly issuing a statement on his blog relating to the defamation suit filed by Mukhriz against the Prime Minister's Political Secretary Datuk Seri Tengku Sarifuddin Tengku Ahmad.
After listening to the arguments by the lawyers from both sides and taking a few minutes to deliberate, the three-man panel led by Justice Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat ruled that there was no error in the High Court judgment in dismissing the application.
"The court is in agreement with the ruling made by the High Court that the appellant has not made a prima facie case. There is no error in dismissing the application of ex-parte made by the appellant. The appeal has been dismissed with a cost of RM10,000," Tengku Maimun ruled.
The two other judges were Datuk Hasnah Mohammad Hashim and Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli.
On July 27 last year, High Court Judge Datuk Ahmad Zaidi had ruled that the posting by Najib on his blog on July 7 had nothing to do with the defamation suit which was brought by Mukhriz and was set for trial on July 13.
The High Court had ruled that the prime minister's posting did not touch on anything pertaining to an ongoing defamation trial.
On July 13, 2017, Mukhriz, who is also Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) deputy president and Ayer Hitam assemblyman, filed the ex-parte application against Najib, claiming that the prime minister had issued a statement on his blog which allegedly referred to him (Mukhriz) and said that the statement was a contempt of court.