KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — An egg importing company, J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd, has been granted permission by the High Court here to serve a writ of summons to former International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali through local newspaper.
Its lawyer, Elyse Ng said High Court deputy registrar Rozana Husin allowed the application by her client when the matter came up for case management last Friday.
“The company was unable to serve sealed copies of the writ of summons and statement of claim on Mohamed Azmin personally to date despite numerous attempts. As such, we have applied to the court last April 24 to serve the cause papers on him via substituted service.
“Following that, we were instructed by the court to serve the cause papers on him by publishing the notice in a local newspaper. The next case management was fixed on May 16,” said the lawyer.
Substituted service is to deliver documents in public litigation in the form of letters, advertisements to be published in newspapers with national circulation or any other method that allows the proceedings to gain the attention of the defendant because personal delivery of the documents is not possible.
J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd filed the lawsuit against Mohamed Azmin last April 12 for alleging that the company obtained a contract through direct negotiation with the government to import eggs from India.
The company filed the suit through Law Chambers of Han & Zi at the High Court here, naming Mohamed Azmin as the sole defendant, claiming that the defendant had defamed the company in a political talk, titled “Ceramah Perdana: Solidariti Menentang Kezaliman” at Taman Melewar, Gombak on March 11, and his words were published by the print and electronic media, including YouTube.
According to the company, even though its name was not mentioned in the defamatory speech, it clearly referred to J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd as it was the only Malaysian company allowed to import eggs from India as announced by Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu during a Parliament session on March 8.
It said that the claims by Mohamed Azmin were untrue as the company had never been involved and had no links with whatever direct negotiation by the Malaysian government.
It said Mohamed Azmin’s actions were malicious and intended to damage the plaintiff’s image and reputation as well as to gain cheap publicity for political gain.
Besides seeking an injunction to stop the defendant or any of his agents or workers from further speaking or publishing any defamatory statements against the company, it is also seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages and other relief deemed fit by the court.
