KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 — A witness in the defamation suit filed by egg importing company J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd against Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali told the High Court here today the statements made by the former International Trade and Industry Minister in a political talk about him was dark and nasty and defamed him and his brother.

Businessman Deepak Jaikishan, 52, said the statements by Mohamed Azmin in his political talk on March 11 last year about him being friends with Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, who is the wife of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and mentioning the word “telur” (egg) repeatedly was personally defamatory to him.

“Azmin clearly defamed me in a very dark and nasty manner, associating my brother and his company (J&E Advance Tech) with this. Me being used as a tool to entice the audience and the way he lied to justify his speech was a very nasty act.

“The speech defamed me and my brother. It ruined all the efforts that my brother and his wife put in their business and I saw the damage in front of my eyes, that was the nasty part,” said Deepak when testifying as a subpoenaed witness in the suit before Judicial Commissioner Leong Wai Hong today.

He also said that Mohamed Azmin’s suggestion that J&E Advance Tech had secured the egg importing permit because of his friendship with Rosmah was the nasty part of the speech.

“(When Azmin said) ‘kawan Rosmah’... (it is) nasty... She is not my friend,” he said during cross-examination by Mohamed Azmin’s counsel Muhammad Nizamuddin Abdul Hamid.

Earlier, Deepak’s younger brother Rajesh Jaikishan, who is J&E Advance Tech general manager, testified that the claims by Mohamed Azmin in his speech were not true as there was no direct negotiation with the government in obtaining the license for egg importing.

“An application was made transparently to the Department of Veterinary Services Malaysia for the approval due to the shortage of eggs in the country.

“We went through a very tedious process of sourcing from India and going through all the regulatory requirements from the Indian export agency as well as the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry and Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services Department (Maqis) for the approval,” he said.

The trial will resume on Friday (May 17) and Mohamed Azmin is expected to take the stand.

J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd filed the lawsuit against Mohamed Azmin on April 12 last year for alleging that the company obtained a contract through direct negotiation with the government to import eggs from India.

The company claimed that Mohamed Azmin had defamed the company in a political talk, titled “Ceramah Perdana: Solidariti Menentang Kezaliman” at Taman Melewar, Gombak on March 11 last year and his words were published by the print and electronic media, including YouTube.

According to the company, even though its name was not mentioned in the speech, it referred to J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd as it was the only Malaysian company allowed to import eggs from India as announced by Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu during a Parliament session on March 8 the same year.

It said that the claims by Mohamed Azmin were untrue as the company had never been involved and had no links with whatever direct negotiation by the Malaysian government. — Bernama