Jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim today filed a RM100 million defamation suit against the New Straits Times and its group editor Abdullah Ahmad over an article which suggested he had links to United States lobbyist Douglas H Paal.

His lawyer Sankara Nair said the suit was filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court registry and will be served on the two defendants as soon as possible.

"My client feels that the article contained false information and was seditious. Our main intention is to get the defendants to retract the article and issue an apology," he stressed when contacted.

The article titled 'Anwar's link to US lobbyist' was published on the daily's editorial page on March 2 last year and carried no byline. It was based on another article - 'The Bush Administration's dubious envoy to Taiwan' - published in the political weekly magazine New Republics' March 2002 issue.

High-powered dialogues

The article had delved into Paal's ( photo ) standing in Washington DC and the purpose of the Asia Pacific Policy Centre (APPC) which he founded in 1993.

It said that APPC organised four high-powered Pacific Dialogues between US and Malaysian businessmen in Kuala Lumpur in the mid to late 1990s but a fifth dialogue was cancelled when Anwar was removed from office in 1998.

According to the article, APPC took part in a Congressional hearing on Malaysia in Washington DC where Paal recommended that the US maintain a "correct but cool" relationship with the Malaysian government.

Also highlighted in the New Straits Times article was the allegations by former Bank Negara assistant governor Abdul Murad Khalid of financial links between Anwar and the APPC.

Sinister motives

Meanwhile, in his eight-page statement of claim, Anwar held the daily's group editor fully responsible for the article stating that "the very fact the article does not indicate the writer is testament of the sinister and dubious motives of the second defendant (Abdullah)."

He claimed that the article was a "deliberate, planned and calculated" attempt to disparage him in the eyes of the public, the local political circle and the world at large.

He said the article had exposed him and his family to "unwarranted public odium, hatred, scandal, ridicule and contempt".

The ex-deputy premier alleged that Abdullah ( photo ) had deliberately distorted issues raised in the political magazine and conveniently chose to highlight specific matters.

He added that the group editor had smeared his good name by relating the issues to the unsubstantiated statutory declaration (SD) of the former Bank Negara assistant governor.

Anwar claimed the SD was made under duress and after it was published in 1999, he had immediately denied and challenged the government to conduct an independent inquiry into Abdul Murad's allegation and into the wealth of the people named in the SD.

He said the government failed to respond to his challenge, no investigation was initiated and no criminal proceedings were conducted against him on the allegations made in the SD which he believed was made to smear his name prior to the 1999 general elections.

"The defendants have, without further enquiries as to the veracity and truth of the contents of the SD, acted negligently and recklessly, with the sole purpose and intention of defaming the plaintiff," he added.

Anwar said it was ironic that Abdullah chose to highlight the SD in which Abdul Murad ( photo ) claimed that Abdullah was paid RM5 million, which the group editor has vehemently denied.

He added that the article had wrongly depicted him as, among others, a person of no integrity, disloyal to the country, untrustworthy leader and politician and bereft of principle.

Aside from the RM100 million general damages, Anwar is also seeking an order that the two defendants tender an unqualified apology and an injunction restraining the defendants from reproducing the article.