The appeal came up for case management before High Court senior assistant registrar Idamasliza Maarof today, according to The Edge.

Shahril had filed a defamation suit against Rafizi over statements he allegedly made that were published in three articles via his social media accounts.

In the lawsuit filed in May 2022, Shahril claimed Rafizi had made libellous statements concerning his remuneration.

Sapura Energy filed the notice of appeal, dated April 25, against the decision by the sessions court to allow the third-party discovery application by Rafizi, who is also PKR deputy president and MP for Pandan.

The company took the legal action after the sessions court judge fixed May 15 for parties to update the court on their adherence to its decision.

Rafizi’s statements were made in reaction to former prime minister Najib Razak asking the government to save Sapura Energy by injecting more funds into the ailing oil and gas group.

Shahril had taken offence to a claim by Rafizi that Sapura Energy’s majority shareholders, led by Shahril, had taken out a total of RM1.33 billion, made up of RM1.1 billion in salaries and the remainder in other payments and dividends.

Rafizi had claimed this was triple the sum of RM440 million which the company paid out to the remaining shareholders in dividends.

Shahril had denied the allegations, with his lawyers stating that it was publicly known that his total remuneration between 2013 and 2021 was RM486.25 million.

In his defence, Rafizi claimed he was justified in raising the matter, and that Shahril’s remuneration when he served as the CEO did not commensurate with the company’s financial performance.