Jamal told the High Court that he had defamed Yeo.
“I apologise for my previous claims as she had handled the Skim Mesra Usia Emas funds honestly,” the leader of Umno’s Red Shirts brigade said in his apology statement.
The hearing of the former minister’s defamation suit against Jamal had been scheduled for today.
Yeo’s lawyers, SN Nair and Elyse Ng, said she is now fully vindicated.
“With today’s proceedings and the public apology by Jamal, in respect of this episode, the taint cast on our client’s reputation has been removed,” they said.
Lawyers V Mugunthan and Mohammed Nasser Yusof appeared for Jamal.
Yeo said in her statement of claim that Jamal’s allegations, which were widely reported by the media, had painted her as having abused her power and acted unfairly, that she had abused government funds for her own use, and that she was a politician unqualified to hold a party position, a liar, untrustworthy and unethical.
She claimed the reports had jeopardised her standing as a politician in the eyes of her party, party members and her constituents.
It had also brought severe and irreparable damage to her character, credit and reputation both locally and internationally, involved her in public scandal and subjected her to hate and insults in the eyes of the community, she said.
She sought general, compensatory, aggravated and exemplary damages.
Jamal had alleged in 2017 that politicians from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor had taken funds meant for welfare aid from Yayasan Warisan Anak Selangor (Yawas) instead of disbursing the money to eligible recipients.
He also alleged that Yeo had taken money allocated for welfare aid, adding that he also obtained information from beneficiaries who did not receive their allocation.
Yeo and Jamal tried several times to settle the suit but were not successful.
Jamal also made attempts to strike out the suit on grounds that investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission into the matter were ongoing, and that the suit was premature pending the outcome.
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