A lawyer formerly acting for the Federal Territory Islamic Council (MAIWP), Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar, has filed a RM10 million lawsuit against Anwar Ibrahim’s lawyer.

NONE The suit was filed yesterday at the Kuala Lumpur High Court against Kamar Ainiah Kamaruzaman ( left ) and her law firm.

The suit was filed by the law firm of JS Pillay and Mohd Haaziq.

This follows what Kamar Ainiah had said during a press conference as reported in Malaysiakini and Harakahdaily on Aug 18 last year , and the duration of the subsequent week, following the filing of Anwar’s appeal in the qazaf (bearing false witness) application at the Syariah Court of Appeal.

It is believed to be the first lawsuit filed against a lawyer and a law firm arising out of a press conference held in the premises of a court complex.

The case is fixed for case management on March 14.

In laying out the facts, Zainul Rijal claimed all this began on Jan 7, 2010 when he represented MAIWP’s head of prosecution, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Jamil Khir Baharom and MAIWP’s director, Che Mat Che Ali against Anwar’s qazaf application to have the accuser, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, charged.

NONE Zainul Rijal ( left ) said on April 14, 2010, after hearing his preliminary objection the court had rejected Anwar’s application. Anwar filed his appeal on April 23 and he then filed an application to set aside Anwar’s appeal.

On Jan 4, last year, Zainul Rijal said he gave a press statement as the president of the Muslim Lawyers Association demanding that Anwar’s lead counsel in the sodomy case, Karpal Singh, be investigated as in 1997 in the Dewan Rakyat, the veteran lawyer cited he had evidence of the opposition leader’s (Anwar’s) sex allegation.

“I said Karpal should not be Anwar’s lead counsel as he is potentially a witness,” said Zainul Rijal.

When filing the application on Aug 18, Zainul Rijal claimed that Kamar Ainiah had issued a defamatory statement against him where she said that his statement on Jan 4 was not based on the law and without basis.

In her press conference, she claimed that what he had said meant that he wanted the first sodomy trial to be reopened, and that he had violated the principles of justice.

‘Statement injures plaintiff’

He claimed that the statement by Kamar Ainiah represented that he had bad intentions against Anwar , violated the Syarie Lawyers code of ethics, was unprofessional, dishonest, and deviated from seeking justice.

Zainul Rijal also alleged that her statement meant that he knew the source of the payment using tithe money, that he only placed importance on money and was not placing importance on Syarak laws.

The lawyer claimed he did not know the source of the money in payment for his services in acting for MAIWP.

“I issued a statement on my blog on June 23, last year, that his firm issued the bill to MAIWP on March 19, 2010 and the cheques received were in the name of MAIWP. I do not know the source of the money.

“I have also resorted to taking action by meeting the Federal Territory mufti to get his view on the matter,” he said.

Zainul Rijal said he will invite the court to see that the readers of Malaysiakini and Harakahdaily in reading the articles from the online news portal would remember the gist of the contents.

He claimed that the words uttered by Kamar Ainiah were planned to slander him, his position, profession, name, and business.

Zainul Rijal is claiming general damages of RM10 million for libel and slander, and special, aggravated and exemplary damages in the action.

He also wants an injunction against Kamar Ainiah from continuing to repeat and publish the defamatory words on the two online portals.