PETALING JAYA: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will appeal the High Court's decision ordering him to pay RM1.35mil in damages for defaming DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng.
"I have instructed my lawyers to appeal against the decision as I believe that my statements were not defamatory and that I have a good defence to the claim and that the amount that was awarded by the court was excessive.
"In compliance with the decision of the Court, I will be removing the posts that are the subject matter of this action from my social media accounts," the former prime minister said in a statement on Friday (Nov 8).
Earlier, the High Court ordered Muhyiddin pay RM1.35mil in damages for defaming Lim over the Al-Bukhary Foundation tax exemption issue.
He was ordered to pay RM1.05mil in general damages, RM150,000 in aggravated damages, RM150,000 in exemplary damages and RM50,000 in costs.
High Court Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain made the ruling after finding that Lim had proven his case against Muhyiddin, who is also Bersatu president.
In her decision, JC Roz Mawar said Muhyiddin had resources at his disposal to verify and confirm whether his understanding was true.
Lim had sued Muhyiddin over his statement on the cancellation of Yayasan Albukhary's tax exemption.
Lim, who was finance minister from 2018 to 2020 during the Pakatan Harapan administration, claimed that Muhyiddin's statement also implied that he had cancelled the approved tax exemption status given to Yayasan Al-Bukhary.
