KUALA LUMPUR (June 10): The Court of Appeal (COA) has allowed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s application to temporarily pause former aide Muhammed Yusoff Rawther’s sexual assault civil suit against him.

With Tuesday’s decision, the trial, which was slated to begin on June 16, and all proceedings in relation to it, have been suspended until the disposal of the full stay application hearing on July 21.

A three-member panel led by COA judge Datuk Supang Lian, along with COA judges Datuk Faizah Jamaludin and Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin, unanimously granted the stay following submissions from parties.

The panel was of the view that as the law stipulates, they were empowered to grant a temporary stay to preserve the integrity of the full stay hearing.

“After hearing the submissions of the appellant and respondents counsels, we are of the considered view that Under Section 44 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, we are empowered to make an interim order to preserve the integrity of the appellant’s stay application [pending its disposal],” the panel said.

In gist, an ad-interim stay is temporary. In this case, all proceedings in relation to the case will be halted until July 21, when the full stay hearing is scheduled to take place.

At the onset of the proceedings, the panel reminded all parties that Tuesday’s matter merely concerned the bid to stay the trial and therefore submissions must not stray from that. 

The 77-year-old PKR chief is seeking to pause the trial at the High Court, in order to make a referral application to the apex court. He wants the country’s top court to determine eight constitutional questions which include whether a sitting prime minister has qualified immunity from civil lawsuits during his tenure.

The High Court had rejected the application last week, saying that constitutional questions raised in the application were “speculative” and contained no “genuine constitutional controversies” for it to be referred to the Federal Court.

High Court judge Roz Mawar Rozain stressed that all were equal before the law and that the executive body was not immune from personal, civil liability.

The court had also denied a stay application following the decision, on the grounds that there are no special circumstances to grant any stay in proceedings. 

During submissions on Tuesday, Anwar’s lawyer Alan Wong argued that if the stay is not granted, the referral application would be nugatory. He stressed that the referral applications contained important questions which needed to be fully ventilated by the Federal Court.

He added that should the trial proceed on June 16 and go on as scheduled for seven days, the attention of the office of the prime minister may be diverted to the trial, instead of focusing on the issue of governance.

He argued that there was no real prejudice should the trial be stayed, as Yusoff’s claims could still be awarded at the end of the trial.

“The imbalance of prejudice is clear. There is no reversible harm if trial is postponed; but [should it go on, the damage to] the Prime Minister’s Office is irreversible,” he said.

Yusoff’s lawyer Rafique Rashid countered that the dates were set since June last year, and that Anwar was well aware for a year that he was due in court next week.

“[He took office] in November 2022. He had more than enough time to prepare for this trial, knowing fully well [that] everyone has to submit to the court system.

“He has been given ample opportunities, and yet, 23 days before the trial is supposed to start, he files a referral application. The matter is fully ripe for trial, and there are no legal or procedural reasons to delay it,” the lawyer said.

He also argued that Anwar’s claims that this suit was politically motivated, could be raised and ventilated during the course of the trial. 

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