Yeoh’s lawyer, Sangeet Kaur Deo, told FMT that Kamarul had not paid the damages and costs despite the High Court’s decision in May.
“So, we have commenced bankruptcy proceedings against him.
“As we were unable to serve the notice papers on him, we obtained an order to serve them via substituted service, which includes an advertisement in a newspaper,” she said.
The notice of Yeoh’s bankruptcy petition against Kamarul, dated July 9, was published in Utusan Malaysia today.
A copy must also be affixed on the notice board at the Kuala Lumpur High Court and sent by registered post to Kamarul’s address as stated in his MyKad.
On May 30, the High Court ordered Kamarul to pay Yeoh RM400,000 in damages and RM80,000 in legal costs for defaming her in two Facebook posts published in 2017.
On the same day, Kamarul said he would appeal against the High Court decision to challenge both the factual findings and legal basis of the ruling.
Sangeet confirmed that Kamarul had filed his appeal against the court ruling in June, but had delayed in applying for a stay of execution of the judgment sum.
“Despite many demands for the judgment sum to be paid in accordance with the court order, he has refused.
“Since there is no order for a stay, the plaintiff is entitled to enforce a valid court judgment. The decision was given on May 30, and the defendant only filed his application for a stay in July,” she said.
She also said the hearing of his application for the stay is scheduled for Aug 28.
Yeoh, the youth and sports minister, filed the lawsuit in 2022 over Kamarul’s Facebook posts.
One was an article titled “Hannah Yeoh contoh hipokrasi terbesar DAP di Malaysia” (Hannah Yeoh, the biggest example of DAP hypocrisy in Malaysia), and the other was a police report that he lodged against her and later shared online.
Yeoh claimed that Kamarul, in both documents, accused her of “proselytising Christianity through her politics”, promoting a “Christian agenda”, and intending to “convert Malaysia into a Christian country”.
She asserted that the statements were offensive, untrue, and a malicious attempt to damage her reputation.