Soap opera star Manohara, left, visiting Ramlan, a West Sumatra earthquake survivor who had to saw off his own leg to get out from under a pile of rubble, who is receiving treatment at a makeshift tent in Yos Sudarso hospital in Padang. (Photo: Antara)

Manohara Faces $30 Million Fine in Lawsuit by Prince

Indonesian teen soap opera star Manohara Odelia Pinot and her mother Daisy Fajarina need to find new lawyers by Nov. 5, or risk having to pay Manohara’s estranged Malaysian prince husband 105 million ringgit ($30.6 million) in a defamation suit, the Malaysian High Court ruled on Thursday.

The Malaysian Star newspaper reported that the High Court had fixed the date after the counsel for her husband, Tengku Temenggong Muhammad Fakhry from the Kelantan royal family, applied for a date to allow the defendants time to engage new lawyers.

The court also confirmed that Manohara’s former lawyers had returned all relevant documents to her after withdrawing as representatives for her and her mother earlier this month.

Fakhry filed the defamation suit against his estranged wife and her mother in July, seeking 35 million ringgit each in damages as well as costs and other relief deemed fit by the court. He is also applying for an injunction to restrain them from making further statements against him.

Manohara, 17, fled her husband on May 31 when they were visiting Singapore. She returned to Jakarta after accusing the 31-year-old prince of abusing her physically and sexually.

Fakhry said the defamatory words, widely circulated in Malaysia and Indonesia, implied that he was guilty of mistreating, sexually harassing, abducting and unlawfully confining Manohara.


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