Due to slanderous remarks, Malaysia’s embattled former prime minister was compelled to pay a politician $300,000

The opposition leader’s legal issues were exacerbated on Friday when a Malaysian court ordered former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to pay over $300,000 to another lawmaker in a slander case. In addition to being charged with sedition for allegedly insulting a prior king, Muhyiddin, who served as premier for 17 months between 2020 and 2021, is also facing other charges of corruption and money laundering. He denies any misconduct.

According to news agency Bernama, Muhyiddin was ordered by the Kuala Lumpur High Court to pay 1.35 million ringgit ($308,078) in damages for making defamatory remarks about former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng in a series of Facebook postings in March 2023. Additionally, the court granted an injunction prohibiting Muhyiddin from repeating the assertions and ordered him to repudiate the statements. Muhyiddin said he would appeal and take down the posts from his social media accounts in accordance with the court ruling in a statement that was uploaded on his Facebook page.

According to local media, Lim expressed his gratitude for the decision on Friday, saying the accusations against him were unfounded and untrue.
Muhyiddin had claimed that Lim had canceled a charitable organization’s tax exemption during his tenure as minister from 2018 to 2020. Lim accused Muhyiddin of abusing his position, which he claimed was the basis for the lawsuit.
$1 is equal to 4.3820 ringgit.