Pua’s lawyer Joanne Chua Tsu Fae said her client has yet to be served with the legal papers that included the ex-parte injunction order to remove the video from his Facebook page.
“We need to know the exact terms of the ex-parte injunction before deciding the next cause of action,” she told FMT.
She said what she and her client knew was based on information obtained from newspapers and news websites.
Chua said this in response to Najib’s lawyer, Mohd Hafarizam Harun who told the media yesterday that the High Court had allowed the injunction application yesterday evening.
The injunction is said to require Pua to cease from repeating or publishing the defamatory words in the video.
The interim ruling is only valid for 21 days but justice Abu Bakar Jais has fixed May 5 for an inter-parte hearing, meaning Pua’s lawyer could object to the order from being extended.
The video was over the tabling of the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355), which seeks to increase punishments for shariah offences.
Najib in his statement of claim filed yesterday said on April 6, Pua made a statement via video at the Parliament building area.
The 2-minute-21-second recording was uploaded on Pua’s Facebook page “Tony Pua”, entitled “BN abandons all Bills to give precedence to PAS RUU355 Private Member’s Bill”.
Najib said the live video was directed at him and it was done with malice and bad intention to defame him (Najib).
The BN president also wants an order that Pua publish an unconditional written apology in at least two newspapers.
On April 11, Najib had sent a letter of demand to Pua to retract the statement, remove the video, offer a public apology and pay legal costs, but the MP stood his grounds.
The video clip in question was uploaded shortly after PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang’s motion on amendments to the Shariah Court was tabled.
This is the second defamation suit filed by Najib against Pua, who is also Petaling Jaya Utara MP.
The first was in March 2015 when the prime minister sued Pua and MediaRakyat portal owner Chan Chee Kong over the MP’s speech delivered at a DAP fund-raising dinner in November 2014 on 1MDB.
The matter is still pending in court.
On Jan 16, it was Pua’s turn to file a suit against Najib for abuse of his public office over the 1MDB funds.
Pua, who is also DAP national publicity chief, wants a declaration that Najib had committed the tort of misfeasance in public office and had abused his office to personally profit from the funds.
Meanwhile, lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla said Pua’s lawyer could apply to the judge to set aside the injunction obtained by Najib.
“They will have to show to the court that the removal of the video is detrimental to Pua,” he said.
The lawyer said the content in the video revealed that Pua was not the first person to utter the alleged defamatory statements.
“The foreign media, the Department of Justice 136-page report and some other local individuals have made similar statements earlier,” he said.
Moreover, he said Najib did not act to rebut the DoJ report nor instituted legal action against the foreign media and other local individuals.