Kalimullah wants case delayed; Shearn Delamore needs time to put house in order

ANALYSIS. It’s a classic case of abusing law to silence the critics.

On one hand, Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan wanted the defamation suits against Rocky and Jeff Ooi delayed as long as it takes. The net effect is to gag and silence the two Big-Mouth Bloggers from further blowing his cover.

More so, when he now schemes to use ECM-Libra Avenue to be in cahoot with Tony Fernades for the airline FAX. This, Kalimullah is doing after he has successfully used law to gag Matthias Chang and Husam Musa from exposing his scheme in taking over Khazanah-owned Avenue Capital on the cheap, and slip back in ECM-Libra when the heat cools off.

On the other hand, Cecil Abraham has been ousted from Shearn Delamore, taking with him the son, and Riswant Singh, the LA wrote the claims documents that the bloggers labelled as FATALLY DEFICIENT and EMBARRASSING to the Bench and Bar.

It’s a limbo for Shearn Delamore, but its a boon for Kalimullah. Both thus continue to share the same strange bed. Delay as long as it takes.

On May 28, the case against Rocky was dragged for it to be heard by the Registrar of the High Court, and then the Judge should the the decision be challenged by either party, which is more than likely if you understand how defamation suits work.

Hence, Rocky’s case will be heard some time in August 2007.

Similarly, on June 19, Shearn Delamore took the same line of argument for Jeff Ooi’s case, citing plaintiff’s instruction, and wanted the hearing to be conducted by the Registrar some time in September.

Kalimullah wants delaying tactics in the meandering process. He didn’t bother to contest if Rocky has provided further evidence to pin Brenden Pereira as a serial plagiarist. Just delay as long it takes. After all, all the legal cost is borne by the shareholders of NSTP, and Shearn Delamore’s pricetag has nosedived so tremendously if NSTP Chairman’s words are to be taken as an indication.

And Shearn Demalore is unsure if its wants Cecil Abraham take away the Rocky and Jeff Ooi files, or keep it at home.

Meanwhile, Jeff Ooi is gagged with the ex-parte injunction to expose further on Kalimullah.

After all, if Kalimullah’s former boss, the dead Tan Sri Loy of the dead MBf Group, managed to to gag lawyer Wee Choo Keong with an ex-parte for 14 long years, why can’t Kalimullah who isn’t dead, yet?

That’s the reason why we didn’t have much to report in this website since April.

 

Shearn Delamore unfazed by Cecil Abraham’s expiry from the firm

ANALYSIS. As early as January 29, WALK WITH US went to town ahead of others with news about the vanquished exit of Cecil Abraham from Messrs. Shearn Delamore.

The news is now proven true by The Straits Times of Singapore, dated 14 April 2007.

This is what we wrote about three months ago, asking you not to trust us then, but we assured you “time will be the better judge for truth”.

Cecil Abraham, 59, who is lead counsel for NSTP et.al. (in the defamation suits against bloggers Rocky and Jeff Ooi), has recently resigned from Shearn Delamore after his proposal to merge the legal firm with another medium-size law firm was rejected by the junior partners.

Cecil has a brother, Wilfred, as a senior partner in Zul Rafique & Partners. Rumour is rife that Cecil may take the NSTP defamation cases against bloggers to his new law firm, along with his son Sunil and legal assistant Rishwant Singh.

Don’t trust us 100% for now. Time will be the better judge for truth.

And truth dawned us. This is what Straits Times’ KL correspondent Leslie Lopez wrote:

Datuk Abraham, who is widely regarded as one of the country’s top litigation lawyers, caused a stir in Kuala Lumpur’s clubby legal fraternity when he resigned from Shearn Delamore three months ago as a result of differences with his other partners over the firm’s direction.

His break with the firm that he had been attached to for over three decades prompted speculation that his departure could presage more resignations from the law practice and the loss of several large clients.

According to lawyers close to the situation, Shearn Delamore has not suffered any haemorrhage in business or personnel since Datuk Abraham, 60, submitted his resignation.

According to several senior lawyers, Datuk Abraham (who leaves the firm at the end of July) is expected to join Zul Rafique and Partners.

Isn’t it about time Cecil Abraham looked at his expiry date as a money-earner lawyer, the byname for legal vultures? Only fools like Kalimullah will get him fight the bloggers on the Internet-related case!

How wishful too, if Cecil had thought that by currying flavour with Kalimullah could help him land more government-related work!

If you read Leslie Lopez, who quoted several senior lawyers, after joining Zul Rafique and Partners, Cecil Abraham could violate a ‘restraint of trade’ clause in the partnership agreement with Shearn Delamore, which restricts him from practising within the Kuala Lumpur geographical area for two years.

And NSTP’s suits against Rocky and Jeff Ooi are being heard in the Kuala Lumpur High Court!

 

How NSTP scored ‘own goal’ to feed bloggers

ANALYSIS.

Cecil Abraham, the beyond-expiry-date lawyer who still thinks he is a Godsend to Malaysian legal practice, has replaced the Irish as the butt of jokes for lawyers who drink across the streets of Shearn Delamore’s drinking hole.

His copy-and-paste LA has now given him a copy-and-paste headache, big headache.

You see, Rishwant Singh, the legal assistant (LA) who enjoys being praised as a meticulous hawk for his research and case preparation, must have been consumed totally by the accolades. He did a copy-and-paste for two sets of Statements of Claims against bloggers Rocky and Jeff Ooi, respectively. The first set was dismissed by the defense counsel as FATALLY DEFICIENT.

Shearn Delamore, for all the salt it’s worth, could have just stuck to their gun and shifted no commas nor periods.

No, the Singh re-worked and filed an amended Statement of Claims against the two bloggers. Again, COPY-AND-PASTE! See our blogs of 02/03 and 25/02.

The next moment, Cecil A. is deservedly reduced to his usual theatrics as being a Big Bully, famous in-court and infamous off-court. You must see how sullied his face was when he didn’t get what he wanted in Court when Judge Hishamuddin passed down his decision on April 2 in Rocky’s case!

And hear thee! Here comes the double blows, a copy-and-paste headache for Shearn Delamore.

Recently, the Defense lawyers have applied to consolidate both cases under one Judge – thanks to the Singh who had the two cases made interlocutory.

This own-goal was illustrated by the Singh in Paragraph 33 of the AMENDED claims against Rocky, and Paragraph 24 (Page 103 onwards) of the AMENDED claims against Jeff.

Put it this way, the Singh has cleverly offered Defense counsels the best ground for Jeff to merge the two cases, while Shearn could still continue to bill The NSTP and its shareholders for the wonderful “services” delivered!

Kalimullah wouldn’t mind because it’s not his money he is burning away. Would he?

WHAT WOULD PROBABLY HAPPEN NEXT?

Be that as it may, all that would have been a normalcy in the Court had it not been Rocky’s case that had moved full-steam ahead!

Rocky has withdrawn his striking out application, and he appeared ready to go full swing with his case, with the hearing proper starting on June 28. Our contacts in Malaysia said Rocky is drawn up his list of witnesses, and another list for subpoena. His written submissions are almost ready, too.

French wire agency AFP even quoted that Dr Mahathir appeared willing and ready to offer himself to testify as witness in the trial.

 

Why we said defamation suits are Kalimullah’s personal vendetta

ANALYSIS. As early as February 25, we told you that NSTP’s defamation suits against bloggers Rocky and Jeff Ooi had actually exposed Kalimullah’s evil agenda.

Kalimullah is actually using NSTP’s financial resources, and muscling up reluctant companions in Balai Berita, to enable him pursue his personal vendetta against the two bloggers.

More, Kalimullah has many things to hide from the Umno grassroots and intelligentsia who are now so Internet-savvy.

The truth lies in the two original Statements of Claims (which were tacitly released to this journalist-blogger), and subsequently the amended Statements of Claims (which were deliberately leaked to WALK WITH US).

The two sets of claims were authored and filed on Kalimullah’s behalf by M/S Shearn Delamore.

Don’t forget, to avoid a TKO (technical knockout), Kalimullah and Gang were compelled to amend their claims after the bloggers’ lawyers had called them FATALLY DEFICIENT.

Changes made they had on the Statements of Claims, but Kalimullah remains conceited that the 48 articles directly pertaining to him – which contained known facts he hadn’t denied – must be removed from Rocky’s blog, and 15 articles removed from Jeff’s Screenshots.

Last week, Shearn Delamore just added one more article that Jeff has to remove, making it a totally of 16 articles, by way of the ex-parte injunction it obtained from the high court on January 11.

Why must the 64 articles be removed when the court has not touched merits of the case?

Why must the 64 articles be removed when the court has not touched merits of the case? That’s also the same question Malaysiakini had asked in January, commenting on the defamation suits.

The answer is, it’s to muzzle public access to information.

What are those 48 + 16 articles that Kalimullah is so afraid of? The answer is contained in the supporting affidavits attached to the claims, and amended claims, that Shearn Delamore crafted for Kalimullah and Gang.

Of Rocky’s 48 articles, 26 are related to Kalimullah misadventures abusing his power in The NSTP, of which at least three articles are cross-linked to expose in Jeff’s Screenshots.

Of Jeff’s 16 articles, 14 are related to Kalimullah’s misadventures abusing his power in The NSTP, of which at least 9 articles are cross-linked to expose in Rocky’s Bru.

The expose in the blogs are supported by public domain information, and probably some traders’ insider accounts, about Kalimullah’s activities in subverting national interests, and destablizing the political equilibrium in Malaysia by selling-off the country’s interests to Singapore.

The information is believed to contain details related to the ECM-Libra/Avenue Capital deals, and the orchestrated scheme to demonize Mahathir which ultimately blew up in Kalimullah’s Sunday column that is filled with distorted facts and published in the NST of June 11, 2006.

Kalimullah, to date, had not denied any of the his misadventures reported in Bernama, the mainstream and online media, especially those contained in the Khairy Chronicles in Malaysia-Today.

It is understood that these will be among the highlights to be deliberated when the actual hearings take place in the open court.

 

We are back again!

Sorry for no updates. Sorry too if some of the news are stale as many things may have come to pass.

You see, Rehman Rashid has done the rectum round on March 13.

We have been having log-in problem in the last two weeks, but it’s over now and we are back on our feet again.

Walk With Us and WATCH THIS SPACE!

 

Kalimullah needs a blog-basher and just one judge

People in The NST overheard that Kalimullah Hassan has a shopping list. Urgent shopping list.

MUST DO #1: Kalimullah is considering re-hiring Rehman Rashid for a new task, not as a night editor serving the graveyard shift, but to be a hired-gun to shoot-and destroy bloggers in Malaysia.

Sources said Rehman, who has earlier left NST to join, and now left Al-Jazeera, is likely to up the up the job. His first article to whack bloggers is likely to appear as early as next week.

MUST DO #2: Kalimullah wanted Shearn Delamore to take Rocky’s case away from Justice Hishammuddin Yunus, and to consolidate it under the same judge who is in charge of Jeff’s case, namely Justice Abdul Malik Ishak.

Sources said Kalimullah is not too comfortable with Judge Hishamuddin for being too liberal with the underdogs.

Kalimullah, who told people he wanted to use the court to promote “responsible blogging”, is the second plaintiff in both Rocky and Jeff’s defamation suits.

NSTP Group Editor-in-Chief Hishamuddin Aun and CEO Syed Feisal have confided to their close friends that they had no choice but to toe Kali’s demand and command.

But Syed Feisal is said to be resigning soon.

 

April 24: New date to hear Jeff’s applications

Once again, the hearing in chambers was over within minutes.

April 24 is now the new date fixed for blogger Jeff Ooi’s defamation suit to be mentioned before High Court judge Abdul Malik Ishak.

Today, March 6, is supposed to be the day for Jeff’s applications to strike out the case, and to set aside the ex-parte injunction to be mentioned.

However, on February 15 (three days before the Chinese New Year), plaintiffs’ lawyers Shearn Delamore served an amended Statement of Claims on Jeff.

In chambers today, lawyers from sides have mutually agreed to take another date pending further decisions on whether Jeff’s lawyers will proceed with the applications to strike out of the suit, and to set aside the ex-parte injunction.

Rock’s case will be up for mention on April 2.

 

Jeff’s case: A copy-and-paste of Rocky’s case

ANALYSIS. March 6, blogger Jeff Ooi is to have his application to strike out his defamation suit by The NSTP & Gang of Three mentioned, and the setting aside of the ex-parte injunction against him heard.

Realizing the plaintiff’s original Statement of Claims had been challenged as fatally deficient by Jeff’s defence lawyers, The NSTP & Gang of Three have instructed their lawyers, Shearn Delamore, to take remedial steps to avoid the striking out.

Shearn amended the original Statement of Claims and the amended copy was served Jeff’s lawyers on February 15.

The amended statement of claims was to be a copy-and-paste of Rocky’s, save for minor adjustments.

Turn to Page 103 of the amended Statement of Claims, in which the NSTP & Gang of Three assert the following in amended Paragraph 24:

19 24. All readers of the Jeff Ooi weblog understood references in the defamatory articles to:-

1st Plaintiff (The NSTP)
2nd Plaintiff (Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan)
3rd Plaintiff (Hishamuddin Aun)
4th Plaintiff (Brenden John Pereira)

and read it together in amended Paragraph 29 of the same documents deposited by the plaintiffs:

24 29. The plaintiffs will rely on the following facts and matters in support of their claim for an injunction and general, aggravated and exemplary damages:-

(i) the defendant’s course of conduct in publishing and continuing to publish defamatory articles of and concerning the plaintiffs and the Newspapers published by the 1st plaintiff suggest that the defendant has a motive or dissatisfaction vis-à-vis the plaintiffs;

(ii) none of the other major English dailies, or persons holding senior positions in other major English dailies, have suffered such frequent or severe attacks as have the plaintiffs in the Jeff Ooi weblog;

(iii) the Jeff Ooi weblog is one of the more popular weblogs hosted in Malaysia and attracts a steady and frequent stream of viewers by the defendant’s own account;

(iv) the defendant has allowed members of the public with an internet connection to view all his articles, journals, letters, comments, posts and statements of and concerning the plaintiffs, including the defamatory articles, going back to 1.1.2006, if not earlier;

(v) the defendant allows and publishes and re-publishes viewers’ comments on the Jeff Ooi weblog that are defamatory of the plaintiffs and these comments can be viewed by any person who visits the Jeff Ooi weblog. The plaintiffs will aver and/or plead to such publications upon the completion of discovery;

(vi) the defendant frequently diverts viewer traffic from the Jeff Ooi weblog to other weblogs which publish similar defamatory material of and concerning the plaintiffs, most notably to Rocky’s Bru weblog at ( http://rockubru.blogspot.com/ ) and Aisehman.org weblog ( http://www.aisehman.org/ );

(vii) the defendant frequently reproduces on the Jeff Ooi weblog posts appearing on other weblogs, most notably from http://rockybru.blogspot.com/. These posts are defamatory of the plaintiffs and each or any combination of them;

(viii) the defendant frequently links viewers to previous posts published on the Jeff Ooi weblog that are defamatory of the plaintiffs or each or any combination of them;

Look, by the act of copy-and-paste the amended Statements of Claims against Rocky and Jeff in two separate cases, why didn’t The NSTP & Gang of Four outright accuse the two bloggers of a conspiracy, sue them together, and save the Court — and taxpayers — money and time?

Fellow Malaysians! Again, we urge You to stand up and make a statement, whether:

1 ) As blog commentators (and some are anonymous), you have abetted Rocky and Jeff to publish what The NSTP & Gang of Four said are defamatory to them?

2 ) As Malaysian citizens, you can’t comment on The NST and Gang of Four have lied and plagiarized?

3 ) As bloggers, Rocky and Jeff can’t link to their own posts and other bloggers’ posts?

4 ) As bloggers, Rocky and Jeff must NOT allow other bloggers from linking to their respective blogs?

5 ) Other bloggers cannot link to what Rocky and Jeff have blogged?

6 ) And since when being a popular and high-traffic webblog has become a basis to get sued?

What make The NSTP, Kalimullah and his Gang so special that they should be the one setting the laws for bloggers, and setting the law on how we should express our opinions?

If this is not muzzling of our freedom of expression, what is?

And what Rocky’s and Jeff’s motives are we talking about when Kalimullah has a bigger, more sinister motive of his own?

Remember, Defamation Act is just a legal instrument that Kalimullah had used, re-sued, and misused to shroud his attacks on opinion leaders who don’t share his views!

Stop him before he stops you!

 

Why we said Kalimullah has an evil agenda. Look at the proof!

DOWNLOAD: The Amended Statement of Claims against Rocky

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

ANALYSIS. The day Rocky made his first appearance on January 25 to defend the defamation suit taken against him by The NSTP & Gang of Four, WALK WITH US went on record to expose the ultimate agenda of the plaintiffs — that is to muzzle the entire blogosphere, damn the bloggers AND censure the blog commentators by misusing an instrument of law — defamation suit!

Subsequently, we told you how Kalimullah Hassan, the dominant plaintiff among The NST & Gang of Four, has misused defamation suits to muzzle Husam Musa and Matthias Chang, who had blown his cover as a plunderer of the national wealth. He doesn’t have a strategy per se, but his tactic is to invoke subjudice to stop you from exposing his money trails.

Now, the jigsaw puzzle is piecing together to tell you the big picture. The proof lies in the amended Statement of Claims against Rocky.

The amended Statement of Claims will show you that, of the 48 articles in Rocky’s blog that the plaintiffs cited defamatory and wanted to be removed, most if not all are related to Kalimullah Hassan the individual and his personal interests!

To let you be the judge, we have obtained the documents from sources within Shearn Delamore, and published here, in four parts, to help you get a good grasp of the merits of the case. As we are not plagiarists — unlike Brenden John Pereira — please allow us to attribute to Rishwant Singh of Shearn Delamore as the author of the said documents.

Take ACID TEST NO.1 as to why Kalimullah has wanted to censure the entire community of blog commentators. What does he rely on to prove Rocky has defamed him and the rest?

Turn to Page 225 of the amended Statement of Claims (it’s in Part 4 of the same documents we published in this website), in which the NSTP & Gang of Four assert the following in Paragraph 28:

28. All readers of the Rocky’s Bru weblog understood references in the defamatory articles to:-

1st Plaintiff (The NSTP)
2nd Plaintiff (Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan)
3rd Plaintiff (Hishamuddin Aun)
4th Plaintiff (Syed Feisal Albar)
5th Plaintiff (Brenden John Pereira)

and read it together in Paragraph 33 of the same documents deposited by the plaintiffs:

33. The plaintiffs will rely on the following facts and matters in support of their claim for an injunction and general, aggravated and exemplary damages:-

(i) the defendant’s course of conduct in publishing and continuing to publish defamatory articles of and concerning the plaintiffs and the Newspapers published by the 1st plaintiff suggest that the defendant has a motive or dissatisfaction vis-à-vis the plaintiffs;

(iv) the defendant has allowed members of the public with an internet connection to view all his articles, journals, letters, comments, posts and statements of and concerning the plaintiffs, including the defamatory articles, going back to 1.5.2006, if not earlier;

(v) the defendant allows and publishes and re-publishes viewers’ comments on the Rocky’s Bru weblog that are defamatory of the plaintiffs and these comments can be viewed by any person who visits the Rocky’s Bru weblog. The plaintiffs will aver and/or plead to such publications upon the completion of discovery;

(vi) the defendant frequently diverts viewer traffic from the Rocky’s Bru weblog to other weblogs which publish similar defamatory material of and concerning the plaintiffs, most notably to http://www.jeffooi.com/ and http://www.aisehman.org/;

(vii) the defendant frequently reproduces or permits the re-production on the Rocky’s Bru weblog posts appearing on other weblogs, most notably from http://www.jeffooi.com/. These posts are defamatory of the plaintiffs and each or any combination of them;

(viii) the defendant frequently links viewers to previous posts published on the Rocky’s Bru weblog that are defamatory of the plaintiffs or each or any combination of them;

Fellow Malaysians! You have to stand up and make a statement, whether:

1 ) As blog commentators (and some are anonymous), you have abetted Rocky to publish what The NSTP & Gang of Four said are defamatory to them?

2 ) As Malaysian citizens, you can’t comment on The NST and Gang of Four have lied and plagiarised?

3 ) As a blogger, Rocky can’t link to his own posts and other bloggers’ posts?

4 ) As a blogger, Rocky must NOT allow other bloggers from linking to his blog?

5 ) Other bloggers cannot link to what Rocky has blogged?

What make The NSTP, Kalimullah and his Gang so special that they should be the one setting the laws for bloggers, and setting the law on how we should express our opinions?

If this is not muzzling of our freedom of expression, what is?

And what Rocky’s motive are we talking about when Kalimullah has a bigger, more sinister motive of his own?

Remember, Defamation Act is just a legal instrument that Kalimullah had used, re-sued, and misused to shroud his attacks on opinion leaders who don’t share his views!

Stop him before he stops you!

 

Round 2: NSTP & Gang of Four resort to avoid Rocky’s striking-out

ANALYSIS. What does it mean when The NSTP & the Gang of Four had to amend their Statement of Claims barely one month after they had sued Rocky for defamation?

One: Their lawyers at Shearn Delamore had cocked up in the original claims, and Rocky’s lawyers had called a spade a spade by telling the High Court that their claims were FATALLY DEFICIENT.

Two: The NSTP & the Gang of Four had to resort to avoidance of Rocky’s strike-out application as a desperate line of defence. The amendment of claims is self-admission of the frailty of their case, and Shearn Delamore is not confident of passing the first entrapment it had ambushed unto itself — the fishing expedition.

Should the suit get struck out based on technical ground allowed by the law, collateral damage for Shearn Delamore will be huge.

Why? Because this archaic legal firm will have to increase the insurance premium as not many insurance companies are there to undertake PI (public liability and professional indemnity) policy related to Shearn Delamore which has accumulated over 25 major lost cases in the last three years alone!

So, what will happen next?

Everybody who drink in lawyers’ pubs knows it. Shearn Delamore will play dirty.

This is evident in the bad manner the amended Statement of Claims was served on Rocky’s lawyers, Chooi & Co.

(CLICK HERE to download the amended Statement of Claims against Rocky; and CLICK HERE to compare with the original claims.)