KEDAH MB ORDERED TO FILE DEFENCE

Court also instructs Anwar to submit reply to the defence statement before March 13

KEDAH Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor must file his defence in a defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim before Feb 13.

Anwar’s counsel Datuk S.N. Nair said the Alor Star High Court also instructed his client to submit his reply to the defence statement before March 13.

He said the court fixed March 20 for case management.

Anwar had on Dec 13 filed the suit against Sanusi over a statement the latter made at a 15th

General Election (GE15) ceramah in Tambun, Perak.

Based on the writ of demands, Anwar claimed that the Kedah Perikatan Nasional chairman, on Nov 13, had given a ceramah in support of the coalition’s Tambun parliamentary candidate, Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, which was attended by tens of thousands of supporters.

Sanusi, in the speech, had allegedly claimed that Anwar was a fraud, untrustworthy and unethical and had betrayed the people’s mandate.

He also claimed that Anwar’s full pardon by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was not obtained according to protocol and procedures and that Anwar was a criminal who had committed an offence that remains on record.

He also claimed that Anwar was not a good Muslim.

Recordings of Sanusi’s speech were uploaded on a Facebook page under the “Faizal Azumu” account, where it had garnered more than 88,000 views.

These speeches were reported in Bahasa Malaysia and English by MalaysiaKini on Nov 14.

Anwar had, on Nov 16, demanded Sanusi to withdraw the statement, issue an apology and promise to not repeat the statements, as well as to make monetary compensation for the damage done by the statement.

However, Sanusi, through his lawyers, had replied to Anwar’s statement of claim on Dec 7, where he had expressed an unequivocal acknowledgement of the facts said in that speech.

Anwar is seeking compensation on general, severe and exemplary damages, as well as an injunctive order to restrain the defendant from further disclosing, composing or publishing similar statements against him.

He is also seeking for the defendant to pay five per cent per year on the sum of the judgment, from the date of accrual of action until the date of full settlement, costs of a solicitor and client basis, as well as other relief that the court deems fair and appropriate.