Lokman Noor Adam has filed a counterclaim against Ismail Sabri Yaakob for bringing defamation action against him two months ago.
The former Umno Supreme Council member said he suffered financial loss as a result of taking down a video deemed offensive by Ismail from his social media accounts pending the disposal of the suit.
Ismail had filed the suit against Lokman on Sept 8 over a video titled “Bila Presiden Umno panggil Tak Datang! Tapi PM Ada Masa Jumpa Mahathir – Lokman Adam”.
The current prime minister had obtained an ex-parte injunction against Lokman for the removal of the video, with an inter-partes hearing fixed for Nov 29.
In his counterclaim, Lokman said Ismail had misled the court in getting the temporary injunction.
“The defendant (Lokman) has removed the video and has suffered financial loss. The video would have generated income if it had remained in social media,” he said.
In response to the defamation suit, Lokman claimed the video was not defamatory and was not done with malicious intent.
He is also relying on the defence of justification, qualified privilege and fair comment.
Responding to Lokman’s claim, Ismail said Lokman was blowing hot and cold in filing the countersuit.
He said in his defence, Lokman had pleaded that he did not derive any benefit in monetary form in making or publishing the alleged defamatory statements.
“The counterclaim should be dismissed as it is inconsistent with his defence,” Ismail said.
In his statement of claim, Ismail said Lokman had uploaded the video — which he contended was defamatory, untrue and malicious – on his TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook accounts on Aug 22.
Lokman, among others, claimed that Ismail had met former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and leaders of other political parties opposing Umno in order to remain as prime minister and sideline the interests of his own party, Umno.
He claimed that Ismail had offered to appoint Mukhriz Mahathir as deputy prime minister in return for Mahathir’s support.
Lokman also alleged that Ismail abused his power to stop the prosecution of former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho.
He also alleged that Ismail had interfered to ensure that former prime minister Najib Razak was convicted and jailed.
Ismail said the allegations in the video lowered his reputation among Umno members and had caused him mental and emotional stress. – FMT