Lawyers for PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim have denied claims by NGO head Chandra Muzaffar that the latter had retracted an allegedly defamatory statement to reciprocate Anwar's decision to drop two claims in his defamation suit against Chandra.

“Chandra's statement is blatantly misleading, untrue and against the spirit of his retraction of the allegations against Anwar.

“It also grossly disrespects the court in which he had openly made the retraction of the allegations,” lawyers Latheefa Koya and N Surendran said in a statement.

The duo stressed that it was erroneous to say that Anwar had “withdrawn” claims against Chandra, as the politician had “merely amended his statement of claim in order to clarify the issues in the court case”.

They added that the amendment was made a year ago, while Chandra's

retraction was made in court on Jan 7.

“If that is the case, why didn't Chandra make this so-called 'reciprocal gesture' one year ago when Anwar amended his suit?” they asked.

“We call upon Dr Chandra Muzaffar to conduct himself consistent with his unconditional retraction of the allegations, and not to put a spin upon his retraction.”

On Jan 7, Chandra retracted a 2008 statement claiming that Anwar - during the Kampung Rawa, Penang interfaith dispute - said he will “make sure the temple bell would never ring in the country anymore if his dictum was not accepted”.

Chandra's statement during a forum at Menara Star in Petaling Jaya resulted in a newspaper article entitled, 'Disaster if Anwar is PM'.

The former PKR deputy president said that Anwar's initial statement of claim included two other statements he made at the forum - that it would be “disastrous” if Anwar becomes prime minister and that Anwar lied to Malaysians.

The retraction and settlement, recorded by the Kuala Lumpur High Court, ended the six-year RM10 million suit.