KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): Former Umno Youth executive council member Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris told the High Court on Thursday that he is neither a blogger, nor the infamous online personality known as “Papagomo”.

Wan Azri said this while on the stand testifying on his behalf in former finance minister Lim Guan Eng and his son Clint Lim Whay Chau’s defamation suit against him.

“I’m not a blogger. [That is stated in news articles], but it is not a statement by me,” he said in reply to the plaintiff’s counsel Simon Murali.

Simon: So you are not a blogger?

Wan Azri: No.

Simon: Are you a blogger with the pen name “Papagomo”?

Wan Azri: No, Yang Arif.

The ex-Umno leader, 41, is being sued by both the father and son, who claim that Wan Azri was spreading “malicious lies” and false news about them.

They say that the blogger, under the Facebook account “Papa Azri”, had falsely alleged that Guan Eng had flown to Singapore around Feb 29, 2020, after Whay Chau had taken RM2 million in undeclared cash into the neighbouring country and was detained at the airport.

Guan Eng, 63, who was the finance minister under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s administration, has testified that he was very much in Malaysia around that period, as he was in the midst of the “Sheraton Move” political crisis, which saw the fall of the PH government and Perikatan Nasional (PN) taking over the reins.

Whay Chau, 31, had testified that although he was employed in Singapore during that period, he was nowhere near Changi Airport as alleged in the post.

On Thursday, Wan Azri also said the suit was a political attack against him, because the statement was also circulated by other people, as well as the Chinese press, but no legal action was taken against them.

He also testified that the “Papa Azri” Facebook page was not his, but rather a fan page, whose owner could not be traced despite his attempts to do so.

During re-examination by his counsel Logen Eskandar, Wan Azri said that his Facebook page was under his name, but could not produce a screenshot of it in court, as the account had been closed down by the Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commision (MCMC).

In this suit, the plaintiffs are seeking around RM3 million in damages, as Guan Eng has said that this was not the first time the blogger had published false statements against him and his family. He said the amount was also to serve as a deterrent.

The trial was before Judicial Commissioner Eddie Yeo.