NST Online: Topnews |
Kalimullah takes the stand against Matthias Posted: 09 Nov 2011 11:22 PM PST 2011/11/10 KUALA LUMPUR: The former deputy chairman of New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad, Datuk Seri Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan took the stand today in his defamation suit against lawyer Matthias Chang, the former political secretary to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Kalimullah, 53, testified that he filed the suit case against Chang in 2006 as the defendant had allegedly made damaging and baseless statements against him at a press conference which were published in the media. Chang also filed a counter-claim suit.
He also testified that according to the article, Chang had allegedly said that Kalimullah was corrupt, and that he, together with the then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin, were the powers behind the throne. "He also said that I am a coward and that I had used my position then as deputy chairman of NSTP to demonise Tun Mahathir.
Kalimullah, during questioning by his lawyer Prakash Menon, also said that after the article was published, he kept getting calls and enquiries from friends and business associates wondering if there was any truth to the statements against him. Asked if the article had adversely affected him, Kalimullah said: "It had caused embarrassment to me and my family and injured my reputation, character and my credibility was questioned."
Kalimullah was also asked about alleged corrupt practices involving ECM Libra, for which he is the non-executive chairman. Prakash: The defendant in his defence had alleged that you aided and abetted corrupt practice in the transaction between ECM Libra and abetted corrupt practice in the transaction between ECM Libra and the once Ministry of Finance-controlled Avenue Capital Resources Bhd. What do you have to say Kalimullah: It is absolute nonsense and again a baseless allegation. The defendant obviously does not know the facts and the transaction. The transaction was sanctioned by the Ministry of Finance and all the necessary approvals were given before it was finalised. The government shares in the company were sold to Tan Sri Azman Hashim after which he became the single largest shareholder of ECM Libra. I did not buy the Ministry of Finance-owned shares. Kalimullah added that the respective regulatory bodies such as the Securities Commission and Bursa Malaysia gave the necessary approvals and that if there were corrupt practices, the approvals would not have been given. Earlier, Lau, the first witness, who is now the executive editor of online news portal Malaysian Insider, told the court that in the Press conference in June 2006, Chang launched a "blustering and often rambling attack against Khairy and Kalimullah". When asked to describe Chang's manner in the press conference, Lau said: " He was very dramatic, fiery, loud and shouting challenges, at mainly Khairy and Kalimullah. "He even had five holy books in front of him including the Bible and the Quran, and he swore that he was speaking the truth for Dr Mahathir." When questioned by Chang's lawyer Datuk R.K. Nathan, Lau, 40, said he could not make a judgement on whether Chang truly believed what he was saying at the press conference. Nathan: Was Matthias passionate about what he said? |
No age limit for 'winnable candidate', says Najib Posted: 09 Nov 2011 11:18 PM PST No age limit for 'winnable candidate', says NajibPUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said today the term 'winnable candidate' used in the 13th general election refers to candidates who can win irrespective of their age or the number of terms they had served as elected representatives. Acknowledging that the coming general election would be tough, the Prime Minister said what was important was that the individual nominated would be the
"Winnable candidates can refer to anyone, regardless whether he or she is
is a winnable candidate. "It is immaterial if people say he or she is a recycled candidate. Of utmost importance is that he/she is a winnable candidate because we want the BN to win
Also present were Mubarak president Datuk Seri Abdul Aziz Rahman and Mubarak information chief who is also Bernama Chairman, Datuk Abdul Rahman Sulaiman. - Bernama
Air your comment on this issue: Full content generated by Get Full RSS.No age limit for 'winnable candidate', says NajibLog in with your Facebook account or use the form below to comment. New Straits Times reserves the right not to publish offensive or abusive comments and those of hate speech, harassment, commercial promos and invasion of privacy. Your IP will be logged and may be used to prevent further submission.The views expressed here are that of the members of the public and unless specifically stated are not those of NST. |
You are subscribed to email updates from NST Online: Topnews To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 |