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KUALA LUMPUR – The Alor Star High Court today told Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor to file his defence statement in a defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim by this February 13 at the latest.
The suit was over a speech delivered by Sanusi during a “PN Best Tambun Tour” campaign ceramah which allegedly linked the Pakatan Harapan chairman with immoral behaviour.
Lawyer Datuk S. N. Nair, representing Anwar, said the court also ordered his client to file the reply to the defence statement by March 13.
“Further case management is set for March 20,” he said after the online case management before senior assistant registrar V. K Neethiya Nair today.
The proceedings were also joined by lawyers Jaden Phoon Wai Ken and Wong Guo Jin, who also represented Anwar, and lawyer Adam Luqman Amdan, who acted on behalf of Sanusi.
Anwar, 75, filed the suit last December 13 and named Sanusi, 48, as the sole defendant.
In his statement of claim, Anwar stated that on November 13, 2022, Sanusi, who is also Kedah Perikatan National (PN) chairman, gave a speech at a ceramah in support of the PN candidate for the Tambun parliamentary seat, Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, with hundreds of visitors in attendance.
Anwar said the speech had been published or caused to be republished and broadcast live on Facebook under the name “Faizal Azumu”, receiving more than 88,000 views, 531 reactions, 58 shares and 384 comments, as of the date of the suit’s filing.
The Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman claimed that on November 14, defamatory statements from the video were quoted by Malaysiakini and the portal published an article in Bahasa Malaysia and English.
Anwar claimed that the slanderous statements meant that he had obtained a royal pardon through fraud and remained unpardoned.
He said they also meant that he is a liar, is untrustworthy and unethical, and has betrayed the people’s mandate.
He claimed the statements were made with malicious intent aimed at inciting the public and creating personal hatred towards him and PH during the campaign period for the 15th general election, which was held on November 19 last year.
The Tambun MP said the statement was untrue and that all the criminal charges he had previously faced were part of a political conspiracy designed to remove him from public office and ruin his political career. – Bernama, January 11, 2023
