Testifying in his defence to Kadir’s defamation suit, the 38-year-old businessman said he had repeatedly tried to reach the 86-year-old former Umno leader by phone but to no avail.
Cross-examined by Kadir’s lawyer, S Ravichandaran, Aliff acknowledged that the WhatsApp messages tendered into evidence only showed he had attempted to reach out to Kadir on one particular day.
“Yes, it is true, … but I had been calling him for months, and none of the calls could go through,” he said.
Aliff also denied that a public post he published on Instagram containing screenshots of the WhatsApp messages was designed to give the public the impression that Kadir had been avoiding him.
‘I did not want to go to court’
When asked why he did not issue a letter of demand to Kadir’s company, Aliff said he chose not to take formal legal action out of respect and to avoid litigation.
“I did not want to go to court. I respected him as an elderly person and did not want to escalate the matter,” he said.
Aliff told the court that prior to the posting, there had been attempts to resolve their dispute, including through a meeting initiated by Kadir. However, Aliff said communication broke down soon after.
“After the discussion, he blocked me on WhatsApp. Only then did I make the posting,” he said.
Aliff also rejected Ravichandran’s suggestions that Kadir had never avoided his calls or had gone into hiding, insisting otherwise.
“It was not for one day. It was not you who put down RM30 million, I did. If he had not run away, I would not be here in court today,” he said.
Kadir is suing Aliff for defamation over Instagram posts published in July 2023 in which Aliff claimed the former minister owed him “tens of millions of ringgit”.
He maintains that Aliff was an investor in a joint venture for the ‘Buckingham by the Sea’ project in Desaru, Johor, and not a personal lender. He also denied owing Aliff any personal debt, stressing that the allegations had seriously damaged his reputation.
Aliff is relying on the defence of justification, claiming he invested RM30 million in the venture. He says Kadir had given a personal guarantee to return the capital investment, together with profits and interest.
Lawyer Zulfahmi Abu Bakar represented Aliff.
The hearing before Justice Roslan Mat Nor will continue on April 29.