By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, June 19: News reports on the lawsuit involving Sarawak Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud’s family members are defamatory, says a senior lawyer.
Shankar Ram Asnani who is representing Taib’s wife Toh Puan Raghad Kurdi Taib, has urged all those interested in the case, especially the media, to do fact-finding, rather than speculate.
Taib’s son Dato Sri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib who is a former Kota Samarahan MP and Deputy Tourism Minister recently filed a lawsuit against his stepmother Raghad and RHB Investment Bank.
The details of the case are sparse as counsels on all sides are keeping mum.
“All these allegations about Toh Puan are seriously libellous. So basically people assumed, presumed and made allegations. They speculated, they drove to the wrong assumptions.
“I think those authors have to be do a bit of fact-finding. You don’t do fact-finding, you make accusations against people—this is not the most pleasant thing.
“Act responsibly. Acting responsibly is to check your facts and you come out forth right.
“As reporters, I think you are all trained. You must exhaust the fact-finding, before you make accusations, so here I will just urge everyone not to speculate. Be patient, you will see the counter-allegations,” said Shankar Ram when met by the media at the Kuching Court Complex after the case mention today.
When pressed on if legal action will be taken against the media for publishing articles he deemed “libellous”, Shankar Ram said his team will take instructions from their client at the appropriate time.
“These are very confidential things (matters) that we are talking about.
“Now we don’t want to be looked upon unreasonable when you start to sue everybody. We want people to look at it (to see) that these (the accused) are decent people that we are acting for.
“If you go out and sue people, it may look oppressive, correct?
“If someone talk about your father, your relatives, in a bad light, does it reflect good if you (others) got your (their) facts wrong?” said Shankar.
Shankar Ram and Alvin Yong are representing Raghad, while Tan Kee Heng is representing RHB Investment Bank.
The plaintiff, Sulaiman, is represented by Alvin Chong. — DayakDaily
