KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki (pic), who is suing activist and journalist Lalitha Kunaratnam, has alleged that the latter lacks the credibility to be called an investigative journalist.

       He said this in his reply to Lalitha's statement of defence in his defamation lawsuit over her articles implicating him in a controversy involving the purchase of millions of shares in two public-listed companies in 2015.

       The reply was filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Tuesday (Feb 15).

       "The defendant's statement of defence has shown her lacking credibility and she is not the investigative journalist that she claims to be," Azam said in the document.

       He said it was "illogical" for the defendant to deny her address of service for court documents as the C4: Centre to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4) office in Petaling Jaya when she herself had pleaded in her court document that she has an employment contract with C4.

       Azam also said that C4 itself issued a public statement to say that Lalitha was no longer their employee as of December 2020.

       "Although the media statement was circulated on Jan 14, which is before (Lalitha's) statement of defence was filed on Feb 3, the defendant still admits to being a C4 employee.

       "Clearly, the statement of defence was untrue and contradicted C4's media statement and was an attempt to mislead the honourable court," Azam added.

       The case was brought up for case management on Tuesday.

       Lawyer Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamad, who represented Lalitha, told the press that the next case management has been fixed for March 8.

       "Parties have until then to file in any interlocutory applications respectively," he said when contacted.

       On Jan 12, Azam filed the lawsuit against Lalitha over her two articles titled "Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does It Go? (Part 1)" and "Business Ties Among MACC Leadership: How Deep Does It Go? (Part 2)" on news portal Independent News Service on Oct 26.

       The two articles were republished on Dec 15.

       The articles, Azam claimed, were drafted, published and republished with malice and mala fide (bad intention) to give impact and bad perception to the readers for them to conclude that Azam was a corrupt civil servant who abused his position as a top-ranking MACC officer for his own interests as well as his brother's.

       Azam claimed that the defendant had never obtained confirmation from him regarding the articles.

       He claimed the defendant had tarnished his good name, reputation and standing due to the publication and republication of the articles, tweets and the lawyer's media statement.

       He wants an injunction against the defendant or her agents from republishing the allegations against him and for her to take down the impugned defamatory statements, articles and tweets that hurt his public image.

       Azam is also seeking an apology from the defendant to be published in newspapers and social media platforms of his choice.

       He is seeking RM10mil in general damages, aggravated damages, interests, costs and other reliefs deemed fit by the court.

       On Feb 3, Lalitha filed her statement of defence, claiming that the information shared in her articles and tweets concerning Azam was extracted from confirmed sources.

       "The defendant has reported the articles based on what she had extracted from confirmed sources and summed the information accurately, fairly and in a neutral way.

       "The defendant pleads that it is essential... for the public (of which its readers are composed) to receive frank and uninhibited communication of particular information,” the statement said.