KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 — The defamation suits filed by former Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED) chief executive officer P. Chithirakala against former MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu and two others, have reached an out-of-court settlement, Bernama Online reported this evening.

This followed the filing of a notice of discontinuance by Chithirakala at the High Court last Tuesday.

The news portal reported her lawyer, Prakash Lachimanan, as saying that the matter is now closed as all parties had agreed to the settlement.

Chithirakala and her husband, K. Vasu, filed three suits against Samy Vellu (picture), his wife, Datin Seri R. Indrani and the Tamil Nesan daily in November 2009.

In the first suit against Samy Vellu, the couple claimed that the former works minister had made defamatory remarks related to MIED insurance on March 8, 2009, which were reported by Tamil dailies, Tamil Nesan, Makkal Osai and Malaysian Nanban.

Chithirakala said the remarks insinuated that she and her husband had conspired to cheat MIED, the education arm of MIC, and the Indian community.

In the second suit against Indrani, Chithirakala claimed that she had defamed her in an interview with Malaysiakini on October 1, her remarks of which were also reported in full by Makkal Osai on October 3, 2009.

In her third suit against the publisher of Tamil Nesan and its editor-in-chief, K. Padmanabhan, Chithirakala claimed that they had published defamatory articles on October 1, 2009.

She had sought general and special damages in all three suits.