The Kuala Lumpur High Court today set Oct 3 for the case management of a defamation suit filed by property developer Synergy Promenade Sdn Bhd against New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd and its journalist.

The suit is over a series of reports run by NSTP-owned Malay daily Berita Harian that referred to the developer’s involvement in a plot of Felda land.

The suit was filed in June with the case management scheduled for today and fixed again for Oct 3 before Kuala Lumpur High Court judicial commissioner Aliza Sulaiman.

According to Synergy Promenade’s counsel Mohamed Reza Rahim, the case was initially fixed before Judicial Commissioner Faizah Jamaludin but it was later transferred to Aliza's court.

"The judge wants to meet the parties at the next case management date," Reza said after the case.

In its statement of claim, Synergy Promenade explained that it was given an award letter by Felda dated Jan 24, 2014, as master developer to develop the 20 ha land in Jalan Semarak, for which it was also given power of attorney.

A series of three articles in Berita Harian, it added, had implied that the developer had resulted in the loss of the Felda land and that the transfer of assets was done illegally.

These articles, Synergy Promenande claimed, was libel and had gone viral, affecting the developer’s reputation, resulting in physical losses due to loss of high-value projects that were in progress.

Hence, the developer is seeking RM250 million in damages and an apology from NSTP as well as an injunction to restrain the publisher from repeating the defamatory words.

NSTP, in its statement of defence, claimed that the articles were not defamatory and meant to highlight the risks faced by Felda.

The publisher added that the articles were written out of public interest and cited the defence of qualified privilege due to the suspect nature of the deal.

NSTP added that there is no malice in the publication and the reporting is fair, neutral and responsible.

Previously, Synergy Promenande had filed suits against former Felda chairperson Shahrir Samad and former deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department Razali Ibrahim.