Anwar to pay RM100,000 after losing defamation appeal against minister

(MMO) – De facto PKR chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim lost today an appeal for his defamation suit against Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman who had claimed the Opposition tried to buy over politicians to its camp eight years ago.

A three-judge panel at the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya struck out Anwar’s appeal and ordered the convict now serving a five-year jail sentence for sodomy to pay RM100,000 in costs, news portal Malaysiakini reported.

“We dismiss the appeal with costs,” Datuk Umi Kalthum Abd Majid who led the panel was quoted saying in her ruling.

Anwar was represented in court by lawyer Razlan Hadri Zulkifli while Anifah’s counsel was Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

The other two judges were Abdul Rahman Sebli and Datuk Hasnah Mohammed Hashim.

Anwar’s suit was thrown out by the High Court on October 29 last year. High Court Judicial Commissioner Siti Khadijah S.Hassan Badjenid said Anwar had failed on the balance of probabilities to prove his slander suit against Anifah over a 2009 press conference in the US.

His RM100 million suit was first filed on May 27, 2009. Anwar accused Anifah of defaming him by alleging he had tempted the Kimanis MP to cross over from ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) by offering a senior government position akin to the post of deputy prime minister.

Anwar also claimed that Anifah had said that he had started to buy over other lawmakers to join the now-defunct opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat.

The alleged defamatory remarks were made by Anifah in a May 14, 2009 joint press conference with then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington DC, Anwar claimed.

In Election 2008, BN won 140 federal seats while PR won the remaining 82 seats. The number of seats required for a simple majority is 112.