PUTRAJAYA (Sept 2): The Court of Appeal has fixed March 4 next year to hear Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s civil appeal against Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, with a case management set for Feb 19.

The dates were set on Tuesday during an e-review session before the appeals court deputy registrar, Yusoff's lawyer Rafique Rashid said in a statement.

The appeal in question is in relation to Anwar’s bid to refer legal questions to the Federal Court on whether a sitting prime minister has qualified immunity from civil lawsuits during his tenure. The High Court had on June 4 rejected Anwar’s bid to refer the legal questions to the Federal Court.

During Tuesday's session, the prime minister’s legal team had sought to introduce documents not referred to in the High Court proceedings, but the move was strongly opposed by Yusoff’s lawyers, according to Rafique.

He said his team pressed for an earlier hearing date, citing a remark by the presiding judge, during the July 21 suspension of proceedings application hearing, that the matter should be expedited.

However, Anwar’s counsel reportedly indicated that the prime minister's lawyers were unavailable on the earlier proposed hearing dates in January and February next year, resulting in March 4 being set as the date.

Yusoff has since instructed his lawyers to write to the Court of Appeal president to seek an earlier date, stressing that the case constitutes a matter of public interest.

“This appeal should be disposed of swiftly since the application (to refer the questions) in the High Court only involves points of law, and the records of appeal have already been filed,” Rafique said in the statement.

Anwar is seeking to refer eight questions of law to the Federal Court, with his lawyers arguing that these questions touch on novel issues which have yet to have any express determination.

Yusoff's counsels countered that the questions of law raised did not have direct bearing to the matter in dispute.

They also argued that this was a private law claim between two individuals and had nothing to do with the office of the prime minister per se.

In the High Court decision, judge Roz Mawar Rozain said the application filed in relation to Yusoff's sexual assault suit against Anwar failed to meet the threshold to refer the questions to the country's top court.

"From a judicial perspective, the proposed questions lack genuine constitutional controversy," she said. "The questions posed are speculative, not necessary to the disposal of this case and do not concern the interpretation or validity of any constitutional provision."

The court also awarded RM20,000 in costs to Yusoff.

Yusoff, now 32, filed a civil suit against Anwar in July 2021, alleging he was sexually assaulted at Anwar’s Segambut home on Oct 2, 2018.

He claimed that after filing a police report, he was accused of trying to ruin Anwar’s political career, which affected his mental health.

Yusoff is seeking various damages and other relief. Anwar, 77, has denied the allegations and filed a countersuit.

In this case, Anwar is represented by Messrs Zain, Megat and Murad while Muhammad Yusoff is represented by Law Practice of Rafique.

Yusoff's civil suit comes after he made a statutory declaration and a police report over the incident in 2019. In January 2020, the Attorney General’s Chambers said it would not pursue the matter.