PUTRAJAYA (Nov 12): The Court of Appeal allowed former chief minister of Penang Lim Guan Eng to reinstate his defamation suit against Gerakan chairman Teng Chang Yeow over the Pulau Jerejak land deal.

The defamation suit is now reinstated at the High Court of Penang. In Lim's statement of claim against Teng, Lim also sued Star Media Group Bhd news editor David Tan and journalist Crystal Chiam Shiying.

Lim alleged that Teng had given the permission and/or caused the defamatory and false statements to be written and published in the newspaper and its website through the second, third and fourth defendants.

He claimed that the third and fourth defendants had maliciously published a defamatory and false statement in an article titled "Pulau Jerejak land sale questioned" dated Nov 16, 2016, which referred to the plaintiff.

During virtual proceedings on Friday, the three-member bench chaired by Justice Datuk Kamaludin Md Said reinstated the suit and also ordered Teng to pay RM7,500 in costs.

After the decision was meted out, Lim's lawyer Datuk N Mureli said that both parties in the matter had come to an agreement to settle the suit.

He informed the bench, which was also made up of Justices Datuk Supang Liang and Datuk Sri Mariana Yahya, that they will settle the matter at the High Court.

The lawyer also informed the bench that a draft agreement of the settlement has been filed.

Following the decision, the legal suit will now come up for case management before the High Court on Nov 22 when both parties will begin the settlement as both Lim and Teng have agreed to record their consent to settle the suit.

Lim's appeal was allowed by the Court of Appeal on Friday as the court was bound by a Federal Court decision earlier this year.

The said decision at the Apex court was a suit brought by Lim against Perkasa.

The Federal Court bench had overturned a Court of Appeal decision and ruled that Guan Eng, in his capacity as the then Penang chief minister, could sue the media for defamation in his official capacity.