KUALA LUMPUR (July 7): Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has described Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as a pathological liar, saying the current prime minister has been making allegations of nepotism and cronyism against him for over two decades but has not shown any evidence.

In a statement of reply filed on Thursday (July 6) through the Law Practice of Rafique, Mahathir said he had on June 23 asked Anwar to furnish documents with regard to the allegations of nepotism and cronyism he (Anwar) had made in his (Anwar’s) statement of defence, but this was opposed by Anwar.

“Since 1998, until the filing of his (Anwar’s) defence, the defendant has never shown any evidence of purported abuse of power or nepotism by the plaintiff (Mahathir). There is only repetition after repetition of his political slander script against me.”

“Hence, the defendant (Anwar) has directly and indirectly shown that he is a liar,” Mahathir said in the statement.

In the June 23 notice, the 97-year-old politician had asked Anwar to provide 21 documents in which Anwar had made the allegations of nepotism and cronyism in an affidavit.

In their reply on June 27, however, Anwar’s solicitors from Messrs Thomas Philip objected to the notice, saying that some of the documents that Mahathir had asked for were not referred to in Anwar’s defence, and that the notice asking for the documents seemed vague, imprecise and amounted to a fishing expedition.

Mahathir referred to a report in the New Straits Times on April 7 headlined “Anwar says he will provide evidence of Dr Mahathir exploiting his position” in which he (Anwar) was quoted as saying: “I don’t want to fight. He asked for proof, so I will furnish him with the proof. No problem”.

The former prime minister said Anwar’s action of not providing evidence to support the allegations of nepotism and cronyism, showed that he had acted in bad faith against Mahathir.

“It does not give the defendant (Anwar) the right to make such defamatory statements, as he is the prime minister now and he is required to issue statements based on the truth only, as whatever statements he issued would receive wide media attention,” Mahathir said.

Prior to this, Anwar had stated in his defence that Mahathir had abused his position as then prime minister and finance minister and that his (Anwar’s) allegations about the wealth of the former prime minister are true, in reference to the bailing out of Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd (KPB), a company owned by Mahathir’s son Mirzan Mahathir, in 1997 by Petronas and Malaysia International Shipping Corporation (MISC).

Anwar also cited the awarding of Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s contract to Opcom Cables Sdn Bhd, a company in which Mirzan and two other sons of the former prime minister — Tan Sri Mokhzani Mahathir and Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir — were directors, as another example.

He had also cited Mokhzani’s setting-up of Kencana Capital Sdn Bhd in 2001 (which later became Kencana Petroleum Bhd and is now known as SE Petroleum Bhd), highlighting that the company was awarded a major fabrication licence by Petronas in 2002, despite the fact that it was newly incorporated.

Mahathir, in his reply, said Anwar’s reasons for opposing last month’s notice to provide evidence is illogical in law.

“Until now, no documents with regard to the allegations have been provided, despite the defendant (Anwar) repeatedly saying he would produce the evidence in court.

“The documents sought by me can be filed at any time. I reserve the right to make further application for the discovery of the 21 documents,” Mahathir added.

The former two-time prime minister also said that Anwar cannot rely on the Lucas Box defence of justification for his comments made on the purported defamatory statement.

This, said Mahathir, is because Anwar had indicated that he would furnish evidence and has to therefore show the proof and not just raise suspicions.

Mahathir also cited the Parliament Hansard, which showed that Anwar himself had in 1997, when he was the deputy prime minister and finance minister, denied that the MISC-KPB deal was a bail out.

“This was stated in his press statement and Parliament speech dated Nov 11, 1997, after being questioned by (DAP chairman) Lim Guan Eng,” he said.

Mahathir also denied Anwar’s allegations that his (Mahathir’s) attacks against the PKR leader (Anwar) was meant to undermine Anwar and his government. Mahathir also denied that his comments about the plight of the Malays was aimed at regaining political credibility and relevance, pointing out that he had attended a similar Malay congress when he was the seventh prime minister.

Mahathir had filed the RM150 million defamation suit against Anwar in May, over the claim in a speech that the PKR president (Anwar) had made in the PKR Congress in March this year, that “a leader of 22 years and 22 months” had enriched his family.

A case management of the matter is slated for Friday (July 7) at the Shah Alam High Court.
 
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