Manohara Odelia Pinot (right) with her mother during a press conference in Jakarta a few months ago. (ANTARA/Erwin/*)
Judge Mohd Yusof Awang granted the deadline effective Monday after Manohara had failed to do so after the 14-day deadline was granted on Aug 2.
"The defendant had not given the grounds for not filing the defence when the first deadline was granted. The defendant should have complied with the court order.
"The court decided that the defendant`s lawyer must file her defence within seven days from today," he said when making the decision at the re-mention of the case Monday.
On July 4, Tengku Muhammad Fakhry filed the two suits demanding that his wife returned to his side and hand over the money owed amounting to RM972,750 (US$1=RM3.46).
However, on Aug 2, the Tengku Temenggong Kelantan had increased the claim to RM1,112,250.
The debt included an Audemars Piguet wristwatch worth RM174,000 while the remainder consisted of the six cash remittances for use by the defendant and her mother.
The two suits were filed at the Syariah Lower Court and Syariah High Court here.
Earlier, there was a verbal war between the defence counsel, Mohd Faiz Adnan, and the lawyer representing the plaintiff, Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar, on the reasons why Manohara had still failed to file her defence.
Mohd Faiz, who was assisted by Roshdan Sujak Rafie, cited several reasons such as the home address of the plaintiff which was unclear, the lack of provision or clear sections pertaining to the claims, and confusion on the meaning of the word `nusyuz` or disobedience that was stated.
Mohd Yusof later set two days, Nov 8 and Dec 20, as the dates for the hearing of the demand case.(*)
