Hasan Lah JC:

Application

This is an application by the plaintiff for the striking out of certain paragraphs of the defendant's amended defence and counterclaim pursuant to O. 18 r. 19 and/or O. 92 r. 4 of the RHC 1980 . The application is supported by the affidavit-in-support affirmed by the plaintiff on 2 March 2000.

The defendant opposed the application and he filed in his affidavit-in-reply which was affirmed on 17 March 2000.

Background

The relevant facts for the purpose of this application may be stated as follows. The plaintiff commenced this libel suit against the defendant in respect of a libel contained in a police report lodged by the defendant on 19 April 1998 at the Miri Central Police Station vide Police Report No. 4846/98 and also for the similar libel published by the defendant in a press release dated 18 April 1998 and circulated by the defendant to various newspapers which also republished the similar libel.

In that police report and press release the defendant had accused the plaintiff of dishonestly misappropriated the sum of RM200,000 for himself by paying a cheque for that amount, which the defendant had given him to pass on as a donation to Masj