Nonetheless, the Perikatan Nasional chairman said he respected the court’s judgment and will be taking down the social media postings in compliance with the ruling.

“While I respect the decision of the court, I am very disappointed in the outcome. I have instructed my lawyers to appeal against the decision.

“I believe that my statements were not defamatory, that I have a good defence to the claim and that the amount that was awarded by the court was excessive,” he said in a statement.

Earlier, the court ordered him to pay Lim, the DAP chairman, RM1.35 million in damages over the three remarks after finding that Lim had proved his case on a balance of probabilities.

Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain awarded the former finance minister RM350,000 in general damages for each statement, RM150,000 in aggravated damages and an additional sum of RM150,000 in exemplary damages.

She also ordered Muhyiddin to pay RM50,000 in costs and directed that he retract the offending statements and not republish them.

In the suit, Lim said Muhyiddin had on March 9 alleged that Lim, as finance minister, wrongfully caused the Inland Revenue Department (LHDN) to revoke Muslim charitable organisation Yayasan Albukhary’s tax-exempt status.

The statement was said to have been published shortly after Muhyiddin was released from arrest by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

Lim said the second statement, made in a media release on March 11, alleged that he had imposed a tax on the foundation and a 45% penalty on tax payable for preceding years.

He also complained about a statement Muhyiddin made to the media after delivering his winding-up speech at Bersatu’s annual general assembly on March 12.

He said Muhyiddin had claimed that the instructions to cancel the foundation’s tax-exempt status must have come from Lim as LHDN fell under his purview.