KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 — The High Court today allowed Kelantan prince Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Sultan Ismail Petra to enter judgment in default in his RM105 million defamation suit against his estranged Indonesian model wife Manohara Odelia Pinot and her mother Daisy Fajarina after they failed to appoint counsel.
Senior assistant registrar Shazali Hidayat Shariff made the order in chambers.
A judgment in default is a binding decision made in favour of the plaintiff when a defendant does not respond to a summons or fails to appear before a court.
On Oct 29, Shazali gave Manohara and her mother until today to appoint new lawyers or risk having a judgment in default entered against them.
Lawyer Mohd Haaziq Pillay, who represented the prince, told the media that the amount of damages would be assessed by the court later.
Mohd Haaziq said the quantum was not the main issue. What his client wanted was to clear his name of the allegations made by Manohara and Daisy.
"Manohara and her mother should come and answer all the allegations that they had made against Tengku Muhammad Fakhry but to date they have not furnished any proof to support their allegations," he said.
He said Shazali made the decision after the prince filed for a judgment in default against Manohara and Daisy for failing to appoint new counsel to defend them.
On Oct 12, Messrs Fakrul Hisham Abdullah & Associates obtained on order from the High Court to discharge itself from representing Manohara and Daisy.
In the suit filed on July 20, the Kelantan prince claimed that the two had falsely and maliciously defamed him in allegations they made at news conferences between April and June about Manohara being abused.
Besides the defamation suit, the prince had also filed two other suits against Manohara im the syariah court seeking her return to him and nearly RM1 million which he claimed Manohara owed him.
Until today, Manohara and Daisy have yet to reply to Tengku Muhammad Fakhry's claims. — Bernama
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