Lead counsel Mior Haidir said they will contest Zahid’s defamation suit against Mahathir.

“He (Mahathir) also reserves his right to file a counterclaim before the court in the future,” he said in a statement.

Watch the video here.

At the press conference on Feb 23, Mahathir had claimed that Zahid and several others had met him at his house in 2018, adding that Zahid wanted to be “friendly” before Mahathir became the prime minister for a second time.

“At the time, there was a possibility that I might become the prime minister, that’s why he wanted to ‘be nice’ to me.

Mahathir was quoted in a news report in February as saying that in May 2018 “I knew there was a possibility that Zahid could be imprisoned” (over certain alleged wrongdoings and crimes).

Zahid was taken to court later that year to face a total of 45 charges involving corruption, misappropriation and money laundering. The trial is ongoing.

The Umno president filed a defamation suit against Mahathir last week, claiming that his remarks were untrue, unwarranted, unsubstantiated and mischievous.

He claimed the words meant that he was resorting to shortcuts to resolve his criminal cases for personal interests.

Zahid is seeking an injunction to stop Mahathir from repeating his claim, as well as aggravated, general and exemplary damages.

Mior said the Kuala Lumpur High Court had fixed June 17 for case management on Zahid’s application to obtain an injunction against Mahathir.

Zahid had previously filed a suit against Muhyiddin Yassin last month. The former prime minister is said to have made a similar claim during the Johor election campaign.

Zahid is standing trial on a total of 80 corruption charges in Kuala Lumpur and Shah Alam courts.