UMNO personality Ummi Hafilda Ali stunned the court on Tuesday, taking an 'oath of calamity' that she never had sex with businessman Nor Azman Abdullah @ Baginda Minda before proceeding to file for judgemtn against him in her RM100mil defamation suit.
“I am taking this sumpah (laknat) in the holy month of Ramadan that I did not have sex with Baginda Minda. If I lie, then calamity will fall upon me,” she told the court.
He oath created a stir although lawyers say it was not necessary to go about the matter in such a dramatic fashion.
Accompanied by her legal adviser Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz, she filed the claim at the Kuala Lumpur High Court. The latest claim follows her April 25 application to refile the defamation suit against Baginda Minda and Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd.
Nor Azman had told Mkini's news portal Malaysiakini he had slept with her in London and that she was infatuated with him, even begging him to leave his wife and elope with her.
I am not immoral, scandalous, cheap, liar or untrustworthy
In her statement of claim, Ummi Hafilda alleged that Baginda Minda had uttered slanderous statements against her during a press conference held at the Parliament lobby on March 15.
According to Ummi, the statements carried by the news portal the same day, portrayed her as an "immoral, scandalous and cheap woman, a liar and an untrustworthy person".
She also said the malicious article had painted her as a witness who would lie while testifying in court, a businesswoman who was desperate for opportunities, and a person who was involved in Saiful Bukhari Azlan's current sodomy allegations against Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
She is seeking an injunction to stop the defendants or their agents frorival politicians especially
Ummi Haflida was one of the main witnesses in Anwar's trumped-up sodomy trial in 1998. At that time, she was reported to have said she was a 'virgin' and admitted to having a crush on Anwar.
Within political circles, Ummi is considered a political 'assassin' and frequently invited by supporters of former premier Mahathir Mohamad and Prime Minister Najib Razak to dust out torrid tales of rival politicians, especially Anwar.
An earlier action, filed on March 17 or two days after the alleged defamatory article was published, was struck out by the High Court on April 13 after counsel for both parties failed to appear for the first case management. Her counsel had then cited technical confusion with the new e-filing system as the reason for failing to appear.
