Lawyers Latheefa Koya and Saiful Izham Ramli are demanding that former aide to Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, Muhammad Rahimi Osman, retracts his statements against them, which they claim are false.

"ln your report you stated our clients had held you against your will for several days in the Quality Hotel in Shah Alam.

"You further stated that our clients had forced you to sign a NONE statutory declaration, the contents of which you say you did not agree to,"stated the letter of demand despatched by courier to Rahimi (left).

The legal letter, a copy of which was sent to Malaysiakini , was dated today and sent by legal firm Edwin Lim Suren and Soh on behalf of Latheefa and Saiful Izham, is expected to be delivered at Rahimi's house tomorrow morning.

The notice listed three demands for Rahimi to:

  • Withdraw the said allegations and tender an apology;
  • Give his written undertaking not to repeat these or any similar acts; and
  • Pay damages for the distress he had caused the lawyers and for the injury to their reputations.
The former aide was given 24 hours to reply, failing which the law firm said it would commerce legal proceedings against him.

The 26-year-old on Wednesday lodged a police report against Latheefa and Saiful Izham, claiming that the two detained him at the hotel for several days, along with a friend.

"They forced me to sign the statutory declaration, although I completely disagreed with the content," Rahimi wrote in the police report.

The allegations were met with a storm of denials and counter-allegations by PKR adherents that there was a hidden hand in Rahimi's so-called "revelations", saying this was the BN's first salvo in the battle for the Galas state seat by-election in Kelantan, which fell vacant with the death of its assemblyperson.