Senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today that he should be allowed to question the 'low' moral character of former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Representing Senator S Nallakaruppan against Anwar's RM60 million defamation suit, Shafee claimed the query was part of his client's defence of justification.

Anwar is suing Nallakaruppan - his former tennis partner - for defamatory remarks made by him in the article ' Anwar terima RM60 juta ' (Anwar receives RM60 million) which was published in Mingguan Malaysia and Sinar Harian in August 2008.

Nallakaruppan ( photo ), who is Malaysian United Indian Party (MUIP) president, had said in the news reports that he gave RM60 million from gambling company Magnum Corporation Bhd to Anwar.

“The statement (made) by my client was reported in Utusan Malaysia and Sinar Harian on Aug 23, 2008, that is, prior to the Sodomy II incident on June 26, 2008.

"It does not matter whether the conviction is eight years later but the defence should be allowed to ask this question.

“Since Anwar has pleaded in his statement of claim that it had affected his reputation of being a good Muslim and (he is cast) as a person of low moral character, it is already shown that Anwar had been found guilty of corruption, and despite the acquittal in Sodomy I, the Federal Court judge in his (Feb 10) judgment made the remark that the court believes that the incident did happen.

“Now that he has been found guilty of Sodomy II, and corruption, this proves that Anwar has low moral character.

Submissions ordered earlier

"This is part of the defence of justification that my client is pleading,” Shafee argued before a courtroom packed with supporters of both Anwar and Nallakaruppan.

For this reason, Shafee submitted the defence should be allowed to bring up the conviction.

The Umno-linked lawyer was making his submission, as required by Judicial Commissioner Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab, before he could raise the issue of Anwar's Sodomy II conviction, which was upheld by the Federal Court on Feb 10.

At the session last week , Shafee had already asked questions during cross-examination regarding Anwar's conviction for abuse of power and the remark by Federal Court judge Abdul Hamid Mohamad over his Sodomy I acquittal in 2004.

Anwar's lawyer Latheefa Koya objected, but this was turned down by Mohd Zaki who allowed Shafee to ask the question.

Shafee then moved to Anwar’s recent conviction, for which he is serving a five-year jail sentence, to which also Latheefa objected. Mohd Zaki ruled that he first wanted to hear submissions on this matter.

Shafee also told the court that since the Sodomy II act occurred before the publication of the articles with Nallakaruppan's comments, the question should be allowed.

‘The law does not allow this’

Another lawyer for Anwar, N Surendran, told the court Sections 52 and 55 of the Evidence Act do not allow evidence of prior convictions to be raised.

Saying Shafee's attempt to introduce the sodomy conviction as an attempt to introduce evidence of character, Surendran said these questions should not be allowed in the first place.

He said the conviction had nothing to do with the libel case, and that the previous conviction was not pleaded by Nallakaruppan in the first place.

“Therefore, questions regarding previous convictions should not be allowed,” Surendran said, adding that the previous convictions were not facts of issue in this case.

Shafee then cited Anwar's case against Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, where the question had been allowed by the Federal Court, but Surendran countered that no such decision was made on the matter by the apex court.

“It is submitted, therefore, that evidence of the conviction against Anwar is a specific act and therefore inadmissible,” Surendran argued.

Also present in the courtroom were Anwar's wife and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, party vice-presidents Tian Chua, Rafizi Ramli and Nurul Izzah Anwar, as well as other daughters of the couple and their grandchildren.

Wan Azizah left with Tian Chua just before 11am, presumably to Parliament for the tabling of the 11th Malaysian Plan.

After hearing the submissions today, Mohd Zaki  said he needed time to decide on the issue and fixed next Wednesday for decision and for Anwar to continue his cross-examination.