Legal suit - Saiful says Anwar withdrew first
Former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s ex-aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan said he withdrew his defamation lawsuit against the de factto PKR leader because he was unable to bear the legal costs.
However, he said that it did not mean he no longer stood by his 2008 police report against Anwar where he alleged sodomy by the latter.
“I have a strong case and argument for this suit but the legal process is sometimes lengthy before it reaches the apex court of the county. I am not able to pay the legal cost to reach that level.
“Property and time have to be sacrificed to go back and forth to court. Seven years of going through the courts is enough for me to prove the truth of the police report I made in 2008,” he said in his blog today.
His lawyer Zamri Idrus this morning informed the Kuala Lumpur High Court of the withdrawal of the RM50 million suit without stating any reason.
The suit claims damages from Anwar for supposedly sodomising Saiful ( photo ) and for defaming him through various public statements and media interviews.
Saiful further wrote that the Federal Court had already vindicated him on Feb 10 when it upheld Anwar’s sodomy conviction while ruling that he (Saiful) was a credible witness.
Anwar withdrew first
He added he would also like to avoid having another civil court hearing as it would be exploited for 'interests of certain parties' once it begins.
The hearing for the suit was originally scheduled for August this year.
Saiful also highlighted that he was not the first to withdraw a lawsuit as Anwar had withdrawn a suit against him as well in 2012.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/208666
Anwar’s lawyer at the time, Ranjit Singh, had said the withdrawal was because the Kuala Lumpur High Court had already vindicated Anwar who had been acquitted of the sodomy charges only to have this decision reversed by the Court of Appeal and Federal Court.
“That suit was filed after I had made my 2008 police report, and it took four years before it was withdrawn,” Saiful said.
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