Socio-political activist Leong Sze Hian is apparently looking to quash the defamation lawsuit brought against him by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Leong’s lawyer, opposition politician Lim Tean, said he will file an application to strike out the original defamation claim by PM Lee this week.
Lim and Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, who is representing PM Lee, met in High Court today for the first pre-trial conference of the suit.
Singh told the court an application has been filed to strike out a counterclaim by Leong.
Another pre-trial conference will take place on 31 Jan, and a judge will hear both sides’ striking-out applications on 25 Feb.
The original claim of defamation by PM Lee alleges that Leong had shared a link to an online article on his Facebook page with the aim of besmirching PM Lee’s reputation.
Leong said he did not know that the online article, which accused PM Lee of helping to launder money from the 1MDB state fund, was fake news and that he removed the link after it was found to be fake.
Represented by Lim, he later subsequently filed a counter-claim against PM Lee, alleging abuse of the judicial process with the aim of stifling criticism of the government.
Lawyers representing PM Lee applied to strike out the Leong’s counter-claim, saying that it has no basis in law and is “completely hopeless”.
