Malaysia's troubled ex-PM ordered to pay $300,000 to politician over defamatory remarks

A Malaysian court has ordered opposition leader and former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to pay more than $300,000 to another politician in a defamation case, state media said on Friday, adding to the former premier's legal troubles.

Muhyiddin, who was premier for 17 months between 2020 and 2021, is also charged with sedition for allegedly insulting a former king and is accused of corruption and money laundering in separate cases.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court on Friday ordered Muhyiddin to pay 1.35 million ringgit ($308,078) in damages for defamatory remarks against former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng in a series of Facebook posts in March 2023, news agency Bernama reported.

The court also ordered Muhyiddin to retract the statements and issued an injunction preventing him from repeating the claims.

Muhyiddin's lawyer, Chetan Jethwani, was not immediately available for comment.

Bernama reported Jethwani as saying Muhyiddin would appeal.

Lim on Friday said he was grateful for the ruling as the claims against him were false and baseless, local media reported.

Muhyiddin had said that when Lim was minister from 2018 to 2020 he had revoked a tax exemption for a charitable organization. Lim sued Muhyiddin for what he said amounted to an accusation that he had abused his position.