The High Court here today rejected the application by Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng to strike out a defamation suit filed by MCA over an allegation that the party had misused government and public funds allocated for Chinese vernacular schools.

MCA filed the suit on July 17, last year through its secretary-general Ong Ka Chuan by naming Lim as the sole defendant, seeking RM100 million in damages.

Judge Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim made the decision in chambers in the presence of Guok Ngek Seong, representing Lim, and C H Ng, representing MCA.

Guok told reporters that the court rejected his client's application on the grounds that there were issues in the suit brought by MCA that should be ventilated in a full trial.

"The court dismissed the application with a cost of RM2,000," he said, adding that the court also fixed March 28 for case management.

MCA in its statement of demand claimed that the DAP lawmaker had issued a defamatory statement at the Parliament lobby on March 15, 2017, which was later published in various printed and digital media.

MCA also claimed that the defamatory words, among others, implied that the MCA had used the government funds allocated for the schools and involved in corruption, had tarnished its reputation.

The plaintiff is seeking RM100 million in general and exemplary damages, as well as an injunction to restrain the defendant from publishing, issuing and printing the defamatory words.

- Bernama