Dr Afif was found to have defamed Umno lawmakers — state Opposition leader and Telok Ayer Tawar assemblywoman Jahara Hamid; state assemblymen Omar Abd Hamid and Muhamad Yusoff Mohd Noor; and Tasek Gelugor MP Shabudin Yahaya – at a ceramah in Seberang Jaya on April 17, 2014.

Judicial Commissioner Lim Chong Fong said Afif’s “Ni TUDM Tasek Gelugor, Butterworth, Ahli Parlimen Umno, tiga-tiga DUN Umno, ketua pembangkang, habis jual kepada syarikat kroni TUDM Butterworth” statement was proven by the plaintiffs to be defamatory.

Lim said Afif’s comment was a serious allegation that implied that the four were not fit to hold public office and had betrayed the trust of the public, owing to cronyism.

“The political image of the plaintiffs could have been destroyed when it was uttered to a crowd of 3,000 to 4,000 people.

“This was also published in newspapers later on,” he said in his ruling.

Lim said the defence’s justification of fair comment failed as the court found that there was malice in the statement.

Lim ordered Afif to pay RM70,000 in exemplary and general damages to each of the four Umno reps and RM10,000 in costs to each of the four plaintiffs with 5% interest per annum from Sept 3, 2014.

Azmer Md Saad acted for the plaintiffs while C V Prabhakaran acted for Afif.

Prabhakaran said his client would be appealing against the decision.