No amount of money can undo the pain and suffering caused by the libellous allegations contained in the book 50 Dalil Mengapa Anwar Tidak Boleh Jadi PM , former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said today.

Testifying at the hearing of assessment of damages against author Khalid Jafri and his wife Rozihan A Ghani, who is publisher of the book, Anwar said the defendants must be made to pay.

"The entire book shows the depths to which people can stoop for pecuniary gain. These outrageous lies and allegations brought tremendous hardship not only to me and my family including my father, but also to many others who suffered persecution because of their belief in my innocence," he said.

"For that, no amount of money can undo the pain and suffering caused. But still, I believe the defendants must be made to pay for libel. Why not? After all, they were paid vast sums for carrying out the hatchet job. There is no question there is something mercenary about this.

"They should be made an example of, to deter such callous mercenary acts against any citizen of this country."

He said the defendants must be made to pay damages that reflect the enormity of their actions, stating that the libel had not only affected his reputation and political career but also reflected badly on the nation.

The whole country went into a political turmoil in the wake of his sacking, corruption and sodomy trials and incarceration.

'Outright lies'

In his testimony, Anwar said he first became aware of the book on June 16, 1998 after receiving a copy from a friend.

"I was naturally horrified and completely disgusted, I couldn't believe how anyone could stoop so low. The contents were nothing but outright lies, absolutely scurrilous and clearly calculated to assassinate my character," he said.

But he said he was not completely shocked by the book as there were already poison pen letter circulated a year earlier.

He then instructed his lawyer to file a suit against Khalid and the publisher and subsequently obtained an injunction to stop the distribution and sale of the book.

Anwar claimed that the defendants displayed open contempt of the injunction where they continued to distribute the book and that a close associate to the defendants, Khairuddin Abu Hassan, had publicly vowed to distribute the book throughout the country.

He also said that the book - containing allegations ranging from ministerial misconduct to homosexuality - had also affected his relations with then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who "became distant and frosty".

"He (Mahathir) did not say anything to me about the book, which I found rather puzzling considering everybody else was talking about the book," he said.

Poison pen letter

Anwar also reiterated the political conspiracy that started with a poison pen letter written by his former driver Azizan Abu Bakar in 1997 and later provided the substantial content for the 50 Dalil book.

He claimed that police investigations showed that Azizan's allegations proved to be false when he confessed that he was paid by his (Anwar's) political enemies to write the letter, adding that even the police and Mahathir had then issued press statements stating that they did not believe the allegations.

"The book was essentially used as basis for turning the tables against me although there was no police report made by the alleged (homosexual) victim, Azizan. Instead of arresting the culprits (for making criminal defamation), the police used the book as a pretext to harass and intimidate my family, close friends, staff and even my lawyers,' he said.

He said what made the matter more compelling was the testimony of Deputy IGP Musa Hassan, who had given favourable evidence for Khalid in the latter's criminal trial for publishing false news in the book.

Among the allegations was that Anwar had fathered a child out of wedlock with Shamsidar Taharin - the wife of his ex-political secretary Azmin Ali.

"(Musa) insisted that he believed that (Khalid) had taken all reasonable steps to verify the truth of the matter when the police had already possessed overwhelming DNA evidence that Azmin was the father of the child...Nobody in his right mind and certainly not a senior police officer could come to such a conclusion unless motivated by other concerns."

He said that, prior to the publication of the book, he did not know of the defendants, adding that he had only heard of Khalid when told of a fight between the author and then Utusan Malaysia chief editor Zainudin Maidin (now deputy information minister) who had slapped the latter following a disagreement.

He said to date, the defendants have not asked for his comments or apologised for the allegations in the book.