Testifying in a defamation suit brought against him by J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd, Azmin said anyone should be able to import eggs from overseas to cope with domestic shortages.

“Importing eggs does not involve complex technology.

“The agriculture and food security minister (Mohamad Sabu) disclosed in the Dewan Rakyat on March 8, 2023 that J&E Advance Tech was the sole company granted a permit to import eggs.

“Why does it have to be J&E Advance Tech only?” he told the High Court.

In the suit filed last year, J&E Advance Tech said Azmin had defamed the company by suggesting that it was awarded a contract to import eggs via direct negotiations with the government.

The company said Azmin’s remarks, made during a ceramah in Gombak on March 11 last year, were untrue, and it is seeking damages.

Azmin said that several days after Mohamad’s remark in the Dewan Rakyat, a photo showing the minister and businessman Deepak Jaikishan boarding a flight to India had gone viral.

He said this prompted questions about Deepak’s role in the matter.

“I wasn’t trying to ‘shame’ or implicate him. Is it wrong for me as an ordinary citizen to ask such a question?” Azmin added.

Asked under cross-examination by lawyer T Gunaseelan, representing J&E Advance Tech, whether Azmin had authenticated the photograph, he said neither Deepak nor Mohamad had denied its existence.

“If something was wrong with the photograph, why did they not say anything about it?” he said.

Judicial Commissioner Leong Wai Hong fixed July 25 for submissions.

Lawyer Nizamuddin Abdul Hamid represented Azmin.