Azam accuser says articles written after ‘detailed discussion’ with Gomez
Lalitha Kunaratnam also says she was contracted by NGO outfit C4 Center at the time of her writings.
(MalaysiaNow) – The woman at the centre of a defamation suit by Azam Baki says her articles accusing the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief were written after discussion with Edmund Terrence Gomez, the former panel adviser to the anti-graft body who resigned in December citing allegations contained in her articles.
In her statement of defence sighted by MalaysiaNow, Lalitha Kunaratnam also made clear that the articles were written in her capacity as a researcher with C4 Consultancies Sdn Bhd, the company that operates C4 Center, an outfit led by activist Cynthia Gabriel which describes itself as a corruption watchdog.
Lalitha said allegations over Azam’s share ownership were first carried anonymously on a Twitter handle before they were discussed “in greater detail” with Gomez.
She said details of the anonymous allegations were also emailed to both Gomez and Cynthia in October last year.
“The defendant, in accordance with the terms of her employment contract with C4, offered to write an in-depth investigative report on the allegations,” said the defence statement filed on her behalf this week by legal firm Ibrahim & Fuaadah.
Lalitha subsequently published two articles in a website called “Independent News Service”.
Cynthia had said last month that “C4 Center is not linked in any way to her current professional writings with the Independent News Service (INS),” adding that Lalitha had not been an employee since December 2020.
