Kong (left) and Siew Chiang at the compound of Kuching Courthouse today.
KUCHING: The Kuching High Court has dismissed an application by state DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen to amend his defence involving a civil suit filed by the Sarawak government and State Financial Authority.
Judicial Commissioner Christopher Chin today then fixed September 11 for pre-trial case management and trial hearing from Oct 12 to Oct 16.
Represented by Counsels Chong Siew Chiang and Micheal Kong, the Kota Sentosa assemblyman and Stampin MP (Chong) was defending himself against a defamation suit filed by the Sarawak government.
In 2013, Chong who is Kota Sentosa assemblyman, used the term “blackhole” to insinuate that some RM11 billion had gone missing from the state coffers. The allegation was published in a Chinese national daily, a news portal, and in pamphlets distributed by Chong and the DAP.
As a result, the Sarawak government and the State Financial Authority on April 3, 2013, filed the defamation suit against him at the Kuching High Court for publishing the allegation in the Rocket, Malaysiakini and Sin Chew Jit Poh on Jan 3, 2013.
The Sarawak government said the Chong’s remark meant that it and its Financial Authority, through the budgetary process, had caused billions of Ringgit to be siphoned off for the benefit of cronies of members of the Government and their families.
State legal counsels Mohamad Adzrul Adzlan and Voon Yan Sin represented the Sarawak government and State Financial Authority yesterday.