The decision was reached after Amir Bazli Abdullah and Ahmad Zahid had a mediation with Sessions Court judge Rohani Ismail in chambers, without the presence of their respective counsel.
Lawyers Datuk Shamsul Bahrain Ibrahim, representing Ahmad Zahid, and Karpal Singh, for Amir Bazli, told reporters the judge decided that the mediation should be done without their presence.
Amir Bazli said he and Ahmad Zahid had agreed to settle the matter out of court and they would negotiate on the terms of settlement later.
In the suit filed on July 4, 2007, Amir Bazli, 42, had sought for damages, claiming that on Jan 16, 2006, Ahmad Zahid had punched him on the face at the Country Heights Recreational Club in Kajang, causing him to suffer a nasal bone fracture and swollen eye.
On Aug 29, 2007, Ahmad Zahid applied to the High Court to strike out the suit on grounds that it was trivial, but it was dismissed by the court on April 21, 2010.
Ahmad Zahid then appealed to the Court of Appeal, but was also dismissed on March 15 last year.
On Aug 24, 2010, Ahmad Zahid filed a counter-claim against Amir Bazli for damages for considerable distress, embarrassment, anxiety suffered by him and also damages for libel over publication of the alleged incident after Amir Bazli had gone to the media
In his statement of defence, Ahmad Zahid, then Deputy Information Minister, denied that he ever punched Amir Bazli, claiming that it was Amir Bazli’s own concoction.
– BERNAMA
