His lawyer, Gobind Singh Deo, said the injunction obtained by Najib on April 21 was not sustainable as his client had listed out all the defences he would rely on in the defamation suit.
“Pua has raised the defence of fair comment, justification and qualified privilege. It is rare for the injunction to be retained pending the outcome of the defamation suit.
“Pua has extensively particularised his defence before the court,” Gobind told reporters after a hearing in the chambers of Justice Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab today.
Najib, who was represented by Mohamed Hafarizam Harun, submitted that the status quo of the interim injunction should be maintained until a decision on the defamation suit was made.
Zaki has now fixed Aug 4 to deliver his ruling and the judge has also extended the interim injunction pending the decision whether to allow the prime minister’s application.
This is the fourth time the ex-parte injunction has been extended to Najib’s lawsuit against Pua, over his Facebook live video on the tabling of the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 or Act 355.
High Court judge Justice Abu Bakar Jais, who was first assigned to hear Najib’ suit, had on April 21, granted an interim injunction against Pua to remove the video.
Justice Abu Bakar was later transferred to the Shah Alam High Court.
The second judge, Judicial Commissioner Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, then recused himself from hearing the lawsuit, saying “the public perception of the independence of the judiciary should not be shaken in any way”.
JC Wan Ahmad Farid is a former deputy home minister and senator. He was appointed as a judicial commissioner in December 2015.
In the statement of claim, the prime minister said the two-minute-21-second recording was uploaded on the DAP leader’s Facebook page “Tony Pua”, entitled “BN abandons all Bills to give precedence to PAS RUU355 Private Member’s Bill”.
Najib said the live video was directed at him and it was done with malice and bad intention to defame him (Najib).
He said Pua had slandered him by virtue of the public office he held.
Najib is seeking for the defendant (Pua) to publish an unconditional written apology in at least two newspapers.
He also wants Pua to remove the live video from his Facebook page immediately.
The video was removed from Pua’s Facebook on April 24 to show respect for the court order.
Pua, who is also DAP national publicity chief, was slapped with another defamation suit by Najib on March 2015 over his speech made at a DAP fund-raising dinner in November 2014 on 1MDB.
Also named in the lawsuit was MediaRakyat portal owner Chan Chee Kong.
Earlier this year, Pua had sued Najib, in his capacity as a taxpayer, for alleged abused of the latter’s public office pertaining to 1MDB funds.
Pua demanded a declaration that Najib had committed the tort of misfeasance in public office and had abused his office to personally profit from the funds.
He is seeking an unspecified amount in damages and relief as deemed fit by the court.