Hamzah Zainuddin sued by Anwar Ibrahim

Hamzah Zainuddin sued by Anwar Ibrahim
21 Aug, 2008

Hamzah Zainuddin is the person who arranged for Raja Petra Kamarudin to be declared bankrupt on 14 April 2001 while he was under Internal Security Act detention.

S N NAIR & PARTNERS
J0501 SOLARIS MONT KIARA
JALAN SOLARIS
50480 KUALA LUMPUR

Your Ref : Please advise
Our Ref: SNN/DSAI/HAMZAH/08
Date : 20-8-2008

YB DATO' HAMZAH ZAINUDDIN
TIMBALAN MENTERI PERUMAHAN DAN KERAJAAN TEMPATAN
KEMENTERIAN PERUMAHAN DAN KERAJAAN TEMPATAN
ARAS 7, BLOK K
PUSAT BANDAR DAMANSARA BY CERTIFICATE OF POSTING
50782 KUALA LUMPUR / FAKS : 03-20953310

YB Dato',

RE: LIBELOUS ARTICLE

We act for Dato' Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim.

On or about 19 August 2008, you uttered and caused to be published in the Kwong Wah Jit Poh chinese newspaper, an article captioned "Anwar Harrassed My Wife" ('the article') which referred to our client. Inter alia, the article contained the following defamatory words about our client:

"Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin revealed that Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim harassed (kacau) his wife in 1998. Anwar wanted to take advantage of his friend's wife even though they were still best friends. Therefore, he thinks that the voters should not vote for Pakatan Rakyat under the helm of such person." (translated by qualified translator) (hereinafter known as "the impugned words")

The impugned words that you published in the article, mean and were understood to mean that our client, inter alia:-

1) have directly and/or indirectly and/or by innuendo, given an impression and the perception that our client is engaged in illicit sexual activities and/or habitually engages in similar activities;
2) is a man of low morals;
3) is a man of no Islamic values and
4) is a bad character.

Our client contends the following:-

a) your utterances of the impugned words as stated above of our client are and were grossly negligent, reckless, irresponsible, deliberate, malicious and aimed to lower our client's esteem in the eye of the public and expose our client to public hatred, scorn, odium, contempt and ridicule;

b) your utterances of the impugned words as stated above of our client are motivated by mala fides, distortion of facts suggesting moral and legal impropriety on the part of our client and are principally done in your pursuit of seeking cheap publicity, sensationalism;

c) your utterances of the impugned words as stated above of our client are pre-mediated and calculated to tarnish, malign, defame and seriously injure the good name and character of our client;

We are further instructed that you have or caused to have republished the following impugned words.

The allegations in the article and the comments i.e. impugned words against our client amount to a very serious libel on our client and have caused him considerable distress and embarrassment. These allegations made against him are false and your attack on him is wholly unjustified.

We are therefore instructed to demand, which we hereby do:

1) An immediate and unequivocal public retraction of the impugned words from the said Kwong Wah Jit Poh newspaper and the removal of all the offending and defamatory comments forthwith.

2) An apology in terms to be approved by us as solicitors to be published in newspapers of our client's choice.

3) An undertaking by yourselves not to repeat the above impugned words, allegations and comments.

Our client has also instructed us to demand damages from you for the injury caused to his reputation in the sum of RM10,000,000-00 (Ringgit Malaysia Ten Million).

Our client has also requested us to demand payment of all legal costs that has been incurred with regard to this matter.

This letter is written in accordance with the pre-action protocol prior to the institution of a libel action. We look forward to hearing from you without delay. If we do not receive a satisfactory reply within forty-eight (48) hours of receipt of this letter, our instructions are to institute legal proceedings. In the meantime, our client reserves all his rights in this matter.

Kindly acknowledge receipt accordingly.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

S N NAIR & PARTNERS

Signed

EDITOR’S NOTE: Hamzah Zainuddin is the person who arranged for Raja Petra Kamarudin to be declared bankrupt on 14 April 2001 while he was under Internal Security Act detention -- as related in the article ‘In God we trust, the courts can go to hell ’ in the column The Corridors of Power. When Raja Petra was finally released on 6 June 2001, he employed Sri Ram & Co. to contest the bankruptcy order but Sri Ram & Co. discovered that the file had disappeared from the court and there was very little they could do to help Raja Petra.