Mahathir said in his affidavit that he had no knowledge of the facts related to the lawsuit by Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin against Jamal over his allegations that the electoral group was involved in terrorism activities.
“I am not able to provide evidence in my capacity as the former prime minister or home minister as I have no information on the disputed facts by both Jamal and Maria,” he said.
Mahathir, who is PPBM chairman, contended that Jamal’s action of calling him to be a witness was merely a political gimmick and an abuse of the court process.
His lawyer Rafique Rashid Ali said High Court judge Justice Zaki Abdul Wahab fixed January 15 for another case management before hearing Mahathir’s bid to set aside the subpoena order.
Jamal, who is also the Sungai Besar Umno chief, had intended to call several individuals including current Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Fuzi Harun, former IGP Khalid Abu Bakar, Kuala Selangor OCPD Roslan Abdullah and Johor PKR chief Hassan Karim.
However, Justice Zaki last November dismissed Jamal’s subpoena to call Fuzi as a witness.
The court held that Fuzi, the Special Branch chief before his promotion, had no knowledge that Maria was being held under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) for 10 days from Nov 18, 2016.
In her lawsuit, Maria claimed that Jamal had, on Sept 28, 2016, falsely uttered slanderous words against Bersih during a press conference outside the Putra World Trade Centre.
She also claimed that on Oct 4 last year, Jamal had uttered similar slanderous words against Bersih during a media conference in the Bukit Aman police headquarters compound.
She said the media and news portals later published the statements.
In her statement of claim filed on Oct 7, Maria said she had been brought into public scandal and had her reputation and good name tarnished.
She is seeking general and aggravated damages, as well as an injunction to stop Jamal from uttering or publishing similar words, either verbally, in print, or online.
Jamal fails in bid to call IGP as witness in defamation suit
Jamal summons Mahathir to testify in Maria’s defamation suit