KOTA KINABALU, Jan. 23 -- The High Court will decide on January 30 an ex-parte application filed by a Sabah lawyer against Umno supreme council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam for allegedly making unlawful and unwarranted statements on the appointments of Chief Justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum and Attorney General Tommy Thomas.

Judge Celestina Stuel Galid set the date during the ex-parte application for leave by Sabah-based lawyer Marcel Jude Joseph when the case came up for mention today.

In Joseph's suit filed on November 16 last year, he took Lokman to task for his comments that Malanjum and Tommy were "unfit and unqualified" to hold their respective positions.

He wanted the court to fine Lokman in contempt for claiming that the appoi...