KUALA LUMPUR (March 29): Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the police on Friday opposed the prime minister’s former research assistant Muhammad Yusoff Rawther's polygraph report, which is part of his discovery application for his suit filed against the PKR president.
Lawyer Navpreet Singh, who appeared for Anwar, argued that a polygraph test result is inadmissible in a civil proceeding as there are questions pertaining to it being considered reliable evidence and it may lack accuracy.
Meanwhile, deputy head of the Attorney General's Chambers' civil division II Mohammad Al Saifi Hashim, who appeared for the police and chambers, said the polygraph test was also not relevant and not necessary to Yusoff’s claim, and this amounted to a fishing expedition.
Furthermore, Al Saifi argued the document sought in Yusoff’s originating summons amounted to official communications under Section 124 of the Evidence Act, whereby such disclosure would be detrimental to public interests.
“In addition, the document sought is a document contained in the investigation paper which is considered as classified documents,” he told High Court judge Dr Johan Lee Kien How during online proceedings on Friday.
Johan has fixed May 7 to deliver his decision on whether to allow Yusoff’s application.
Yusoff, who was represented by Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla, had filed a third-party discovery application for the polygraph test in a bid to support his sexual assault suit against Anwar.
He is seeking the polygraph test conducted by the police back in December 2019.
On Friday, Haniff said that since the test had been conducted and there was no further action (NFA) by the prosecution on the matter and Yusoff had filed the suit, his client is entitled to use any document, including the polygraph test, to support his case.
"Yusoff has to prove his case on a balance of probabilities in the civil suit, and it is not disputed that he had taken the test, and the police are not using it since it is NFA," Haniff said.
"It is also for the court to decide whether such a test is to be accepted. Hence, Yusoff should be entitled to get the result and use it to support his claim and to call an expert witness. There is no law at present prohibiting the use of polygraph tests and expert evidence to testify in court," he added.
Yusoff filed a suit against Anwar in July 2021, alleging sexual assault by the PKR president in 2018.
In his statement of claim, he alleged that the sexual assault took place on Oct 2, 2018 at Anwar’s then residence in Segambut, Kuala Lumpur.
The former research assistant claimed that following the alleged sexual assault and his lodging of a police report on it, he was accused of plotting to bring down Anwar and damage the PKR president's political career.
The alleged sexual assault and the accusation have affected his mental health, he claimed.
As such, Yusoff is seeking from Anwar special, general, aggravated and exemplary damages, as well as interest, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court.
Anwar, meanwhile, has denied Yusoff’s claim and, as a result, also filed a counterclaim against his former research assistant.