KUALA LUMPUR: The trial of a defamation lawsuit filed by Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng against former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has been fixed for a five-day hearing in July next year.

       The High Court has scheduled the trial dates, July 15-19, to be heard before Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain.

       The dates were fixed during case management here on Thursday (July 20).

       The court also fixed Oct 10 for the next case management in open court.

       On March 27, Lim, 62, filed the lawsuit against Muhyiddin, 75, for allegedly issuing defamatory statements over the cancellation of Yayasan Albukhary's tax exemption.

       In his statement of claim, the former finance minister said Muhyiddin had issued three defamatory statements involving him over the issue on March 9, 11 and 12, posted on the defendant's Facebook, which were published on the same day by several newspapers and news portals.

       Lim claimed that the remarks were deliberately made after Muhyiddin was detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on March 9 as he knew that media attention was focused on him.

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       Lim also claimed the comments gave the impression that he was racist, anti-Malay and anti-Islam and had deliberately sabotaged Yayasan Albukhary for refusing to allow tax exemptions for the foundation when he was finance minister from 2018 to 2020.

       The former Penang chief minister also claimed the statements meant that he had abused his position and power by authorising or instructing the Inland Revenue Board to impose taxes and penalties on charitable foundations when they should not be taxed.

       Lim demanded that Muhyiddin apologise, retract the statements, post an apology on his Facebook and Twitter accounts and publish it in several newspapers and news portals within seven days of the judgment date.

       He is also seeking general, aggravated and punitive damages to be determined by the court and an injunction to prevent Muhyiddin or his agents from issuing or republishing the statements or similar remarks.