The High Court in Kuala Lumpur has set Jan 22 to Jan 25 next year as the new dates to resume hearing a defamation suit filed by jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim against former BN candidate for Permatang Pauh and two others, for implicating him of bribing judges and prosecutors.

Judicial Commissioner Faizah Jamaludin allowed the application by Anwar's lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo to continue hearing the case against Mazlan Ismail, private broadcaster TV3 and Malay-daily Utusan Malaysia over alleged defamatory statements made in August 2013.

Speaking to reporters later, Sangeet said the application was made today due to Anwar's health conditions.

"The hearing dates have been vacated over the next few days because Datuk Seri will be going for a full medical check-up.

"Unfortunately there are no common dates (soon) so the nearest dates are in January next year," she said.

Anwar earlier took the stand as the first and only prosecution witness for the suit filed on Oct 15, 2015, with Mazlan named as the first defendant and TV3 and Utusan Melayu as the second and third defendants respectively.

"By right I should be hospitalised this week but I have to attend the hearing out of respect for the court," said Anwar who read from a witness statement.

Anwar also identified Mazlan as a former Penang PAS deputy commissioner who used to work for the late Karpal Singh, but eventually crossed over to Umno and lost against him during the 13th general elections.

Anwar said Mazlan had at the time referred to a purported report titled "Bank leaks Anwar Karpal" and demanded an explanation over millions of ringgit in payments which he had supposedly made to Karpal's law firm, including as bribes for judges and prosecutors.

In October last year, High Court Judge John Louis O'Hara had set four days from today to hear the suit.

Anwar in his suit claimed that Mazlan held a media conference on August 2, 2013, and uttered seriously defamatory and malicious words implying that he was a corrupt person without ethics, had engaged in criminal activities and was a dishonest and immoral person.

He also claimed that Mazlan had caused TV3 to broadcast the alleged defamatory words on its prime time news, Buletin Utama on Aug 2, 2013, and Utusan Malaysia to publish it the following day.

Besides general, aggravated and exemplary damages, Anwar is also seeking an injunction to prevent the defendants from repeating or further publishing the alleged defamatory remarks.