A Malaysian court ordered former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin to pay more than $300,000 to another politician in a defamation case.
Muhyiddin, who was prime minister from 2020-2021, is also charged with sedition for allegedly insulting the former king, as well as corruption and money laundering in separate cases.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court obliged Muhyiddin to pay 1.35 million ringgit ($308,078) in compensation for defamatory statements against former finance minister Lim Guan Eng. The court also ordered Muhyiddin to retract the remarks and imposed an injunction restraining him from repeating the allegations.
However, Muhyiddin said he would appeal but would delete the posts from his social media accounts in line with the court’s ruling. Lim stated on Friday that he was grateful for the court’s decision as the claims against him were false and unfounded.
Muhyiddin claimed that when Lim was minister from 2018 to 2020, he cancelled a tax exemption for a charitable organisation. Lim sued Muhyiddin for allegations of abuse of office.
