KUALA LUMPUR, 13 Jan: Today, Umno withdrew the defamation suit against the Vice President of KEADILAN, Tian Chua, regarding the incident in Lahad Datu, Sabah.
This was following Tian Chua’s explanation that his allegation did not refer to Umno as a political party involved in orchestrating the intrusion.
The plaintiff, Umno’s executive secretary Datuk Abd Rauf Yusof, however asked for the news to be taken down from Keadilan Daily and it was agreed.
However, no apology was made by any party.
An out of court settlement was reached today by both parties where a consent judgement was recorded in chambers before judicial commissioner Rosilah Yop.
Apart from Tian Chua, the two other defendants were the Chief Editor of Keadilan Daily, Fazallah Pit and the journalist of the portal, Aisha Geoffrey.
Umno filed a suit on 1 March against the article dated 1 March 2013, entitled ‘Insiden tembakan di Lahad Datu konspirasi terancang Umno’ – Tian (Shooting incident in Lahad Datu an Umno orchestrated conspiracy – Tian)
Keadilan Daily is an online version of Suara Keadilan, the official PKR newspaper published weekly which was denied to own its publication licence by the authorities.
Unlike Utusan, Suara Keadilan and even Keadilan Daily have never lost any suit in court in the past three years.
Previously, the portal faced a defamation suit from the Penang Umno but the court rejected it on the issue on locus standi.
