KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here dismissed an egg importer's application for permission to initiate contempt proceedings against former minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.
Judicial commissioner Leong Wai Hong made the decision today in relation to J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd's lawsuit against Azmin over his allegation on the import of eggs from India via direct negotiation by the government.
The company claimed that the senior politician is in contempt of court for giving contradictory statement in the trial.
During the trial, the company's general manager, Rajesh Jaikishan, testified that Azmin's allegation was untrue because there were no direct negotiations with the government to obtain the egg import licence.
Rajesh said the company had made a transparent application to the Malaysian Veterinary Services Department for approval due to the shortage of eggs in the country.
"Stringent requirements were fulfilled by J&E in relation to the regulations by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in India and likewise by the Department of Veterinary Services, the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry and the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services Department (Maqis) in Malaysia.
"As a consequence of the defendant's careless statement alleging that the eggs were of poor and/or subpar quality, the plaintiff has suffered loss in business," he said.
However, Azmin when testifying in the trial, said his statement was only to question Rajesh's brother, Deepak, who was sitting with Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu in a flight a few days after the latter answered questions in Parliament regarding the government's special permit to import eggs from India.
The company is seeking general, exemplary and aggravated damages from Azmin. It is also seeking a court order to stop Azmin from repeating his statement.
On March 12 last year, during a Perikatan Nasional ceramah in Taman Melewar, Azmin alleged that the government had awarded the project to import eggs from India via direct negotiations.
He claimed that the direct awarding of the contract contradicted the promise of an open tender process made by the unity government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Azmin also claimed that Mohamad, as the minister in charge, had taken the businessman involved in his visit to India recently.
On Feb 28 last year, Mohamad was reported to have said that only one company was permitted to import eggs from India and that the move was taken to resolve the lack of supply in the local market.
However, when questioned by Putrajaya member of parliament Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin, Mohamad admitted that the company did not go through the open tender process because it was a "special case".