Lawyer Faidhur Rahman Abdul Hadi denied that his firm Azril & Associates had failed to submit the writ of summons and statement of claim (SoC) on behalf of political analyst Kamarul Zaman Yusoff on Abdul Aziz Isa.

Aziz, who is special assistant to Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) chief Chong Chieng Jen, had previously said he never received the writ of summons and SoC, adding that he only knew about the judgment after Kamarul posted the news on Facebook.

“As the plaintiff’s solicitor, I and Azril & Associates have followed all strict procedures under the Rules of Court 2012 and other orders by the court, up until the court issued the default judgment.

“My law firm made several attempts to deliver the writ of summons and SoC to the defendant’s last known address, but it was unsuccessful,” said Faidhur in a statement.

He said he had also applied to the court for substituted service, where it was posted at the Kuching High Court in Sarawak, and also placed a notice of the delivery in The Borneo Post.

He said Aziz’s claim of being left in the dark was questionable as the defendant made a Facebook post on June 25 stating that he had received a letter of demand and would refer it to his lawyers.

Faidhur added that Kamarul had also uploaded the writ of summons against Aziz onto his Facebook account on Aug 1.

He questioned how the letter of demand had reached Aziz but the writ of summons and SoC did not, when they were all sent to the same address.

“Is it logical for the defendant to claim he was unaware of the writ of summons and SoC, when the plaintiff’s legal action against him was known by many?

“Why did the defendant fail to respond to the plaintiff’s legal action when all other nine defendant party leaders, including his employer, Chong, were also summoned to provide a response?”

Faidhur also dismissed claims from Aziz’s lawyer, M Visvanathan, that the RM8 million default judgment in appearance entered against him was “ridiculous and outrageous”.

He said the judgment was determined by the court, and that this was not the first time a multimillion compensation was ordered.

It was previously reported that the Kuala Lumpur High Court had awarded Kamarul, a lecturer with Universiti Utara Malaysia, RM8 million in damages and RM10,000 in legal costs, and that Aziz was to pay interest of 4% a year on the judgment sum until the damages were fully paid.

Kamarul said Aziz had defamed him through social media postings and opinion pieces that questioned Kamarul’s academic credentials and had implied that he was afraid of Christians.

Similar suits were also filed by Kamarul against Chong, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang, Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng and Ipoh Timur MP Wong Kah Woh.