KUALA LUMPUR (April 23): Former Sapura Energy Bhd chief executive officer Tan Sri Shahril Shamsudin has settled his defamation lawsuit against Economics Minister Rafizi Ramli out of court.
Sessions Court judge Faiz Dziyauddin noted the settlement on Tuesday and vacated the hearing dates that had been fixed for September.
“The settlement was reached through a settlement agreement on April 15. Following the settlement, parties had released a joint statement to the public on April 18, informing of the settlement reached,” said Rafizi’s lawyer Navpreet Singh.
Rafizi and Shahril, in the joint statement, said the minister has agreed to withdraw his alleged defamatory statements from all media channels including his website and in return, Shahril will withdraw the lawsuit.
Both parties agreed not to prolong the issue to allow Sapura Energy, which is now a government-linked company, to focus on its transformation exercise and business activities.
“The parties further recognise that the statements made by Rafizi Ramli leading to the defamation suit were in response to statements made by the former prime minister, namely Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“As Najib is no longer the prime minister of Malaysia, the parties recognise that there is no need to further politicise the issue relating to Sapura Energy,” the statement read.
Shahril had filed the suit against Rafizi, who is also PKR deputy president, over statements he made that were published in three articles via his social media accounts, in response to Najib asking the government to save Sapura Energy by injecting more funds into the company.
Lawyer Nurul Syafinas Ibrahim appeared for Shahril in the suit.