Ooi retracts suit against the New Straits Times

/PETALING JAYA: Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi has claimed that statements made during a court proceeding on his lawsuit today defied an earlier agreement with the plaintiff, the New Straits Times Press (NSTP).

The NSTP filed a lawsuit against Ooi in 2007 for libellous allegations against the NSTP and its then bosses, former deputy chairman Kalimullah Hassan, former group editor-in-chief Hishammuddin Aun and former group editor of its English daily Brendan Pereira.

Ooi today retracted his allegations in open court although he was absent from the proceedings. His statement of regret was read out aloud by lawyer, Cecil Abraham, before High Court judge, Nik Hasmat Nik Mohamad.

In a subsequent text message to FMT, however, Ooi said, “Was not in court but now in Parliament. Let me get my lawyers to deal with Cecil’s statement. If the quote of him in The Malaysian Insider is true, then it defies an agreement we earlier had which was initiated by NSTP as all plaintiffs have now left the firm.”

Ooi declined to reveal details of the agreement, saying, “Let my lawyers Malik Imtiaz and Balan Nair of Thomas Philips give me their version first.”

The Malaysian Insider had earlier reported Abraham as saying, “The defendant is present today by counsel. The defendant states that he had acted bona fide without malice. However, he appreciates that his allegations may have caused the plaintiffs embarrassment and inconvenience and regrets the same,” Abraham said.

“As such, the defendant now wishes to state that he retracts all allegations and publications which form the subject matter of these proceedings and regrets publishing the same.”

When asked for details of the agreement, Ooi said, “Let my lawyers Malik Imtiaz (Sarwar) and Balan Nair of Thomas Philips to give me their version first.”

The report also said that both sides had agreed that there would be no payment for damages bringing an end to the four-year-long case .

When asked if he was referring to all Abraham’s statements or one in particular, Ooi texted back, “The quotes in The Malaysian Insider.”

Malik is currently abroad while Balan was unavailable for comment at the time.