KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 20): PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has filed a suit against Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for defamation over claims that Anwar took in RM15 million when acting as Selangor economic adviser.
The defamation suit was filed by Anwar’s solicitors from Messrs SN Nair and Partners at the High Court here on Tuesday (Dec 20) morning.
This is the third suit filed by Anwar, as previously he had sued PAS Perak leader Razman Zakaria and Kedah Menteri Besar (MB) Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Mohd Nor last week.
Anwar, who is the current prime minister, filed the suit against Muhyiddin, who was the ninth PM, as he complained that the words uttered by Muhyiddin during a ceramah held at the Padang Serai general election campaign on Dec 5 claimed the payment was made to Anwar. Both the PKR president and the Selangor government have denied the claims.
Anwar in his 105-page statement of claim alleged the words uttered by Muhyiddin meant that Anwar is unreliable, untruthful about accepting millions from the Selangor government as the state’s economic adviser, and that he is unethical and betrayed the people's mandate.
Anwar also complained that the words meant he is unprincipled, a corrupt person, a hypocrite, prone to sharp practices of ill repute, deceived the public by holding out that he received RM1 as salary for his services as the state adviser and is not a good Muslim.
Anwar further alleged the words as slanderous and libellous to him and bring meaning to the same allegations mentioned above.
The PKR president said the words published are untrue, malicious, deliberate/wilful, and have been done with impunity, without due regard to the truth of the matter and seriously prejudicial to his reputation.
He further said Muhyiddin’s allegations are completely untrue, extreme, vile, and spurious, have no basis whatsoever, and had affected his reputable image internationally and in Malaysia as a clean politician who had always been an ardent advocate against bribery and corruption.
Anwar said he had emphatically denounced such allegations against him in respect to the RM15 million salary and that the libellous words by Muhyiddin are detrimental to his reputation as PKR president, Pakatan Harapan chairman, Tambun MP, the current PM, and Finance Minister.
The allegations, Anwar said, are baseless and contain outright falsehoods that incorrectly portray him as a person who strikes private deals in order to enrich himself.
He complained that Muhyiddin’s words were deliberate, malicious, and calculated with intent to lower Anwar’s self-esteem in the eyes of the general public, both locally and internationally, and exposed him to public hatred, reproach, disgrace, humiliation, odium, opprobrium, and ridicule.
This is despite the current political secretary to the Selangor MB Juwairiya Zulkifli having released a press statement denying Muhyiddin’s allegations and further shed light onto the matter.
On Dec 7, Anwar through his solicitors had demanded an apology and retraction, but there has been no response.
Hence, for these reasons, Anwar sought general, aggravated, compensatory damages and also an injunction to bar Muhyiddin or his agents from repeating, uttering and publishing those said words.