Haniff Khatri Abdulla said Aziz’s statement in Malay daily Sinar Harian on July 15 last year was interfering with the administration of justice.
“Based on Mukhriz’s testimony in court, Aziz picked on some statements … and subsequently gave a ‘conclusion’ to the public before the case ends,” he said, referring to Mukhriz’s lawsuit against Prime Minister Najib Razak’s press secretary Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad.
Aziz, who is also deputy transport minister, claimed in a statement that Mukhriz had said in court that his father, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and PPBM president Muhyiddin Yassin had been conspiring since 2014 to take over the government.
Last year, Mukhriz filed an application to initiate contempt proceedings against Aziz for making statements that might influence the outcome of his court case.
Haniff also said Aziz’s statement was unnecessary and was contemptuous propaganda.
Meanwhile, Aziz’s lawyer K Kirubakaran argued that the deputy minister was only making a political statement.
“This is normal in the political scenario where both sides of the political divide criticise one another.
“This is akin to a political boxing ring where they are ‘punching’ each other,” he said.
Kirubakaran said Aziz’s statement did not cast any aspersion on the court’s integrity.
“The court is the ultimate place to decide Mukhriz’s suit against Tengku Sariffuddin and not the public, based on what they read on blogs,” he added.
High Court judge Justice Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim will decide on March 15 whether to allow Mukhriz to start the contempt proceedings against Aziz.
The defamation suit will resume on the same day and Tengku Sariffuddin will take the witness stand.
Mukhriz sued Tengku Sariffuddin in 2016 over four press statements issued by the latter on April 15, 20, 23 and 26 the same year.
The press statements were titled “Prime Minister’s Press Secretary’s Statement on Donation Confirmation by Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister”, “Prime Minister’s Press Secretary’s Statement on Former DPM’s Reuters Interview”, “Mukhriz Mahathir’s Statement: Response by Prime Minister’s Press Secretary” and “Prime Minister’s Press Secretary’s Statement on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir”.
Previously, Mukhriz also filed an application to obtain leave to cite Najib for contempt.
He claimed that Najib’s statement on Facebook dated July 7, 2017, a week before his lawsuit started, was intentionally done to interfere with the course of justice.
However, the court dismissed his application and ruled that Mukhriz had failed to show that the statement by Najib had put pressure on the court to influence the outcome of his suit
The decision that Najib was not in contempt over his Facebook statement was upheld last week by the Court of Appeal.
Mukhriz fails to initiate contempt proceedings against Najib