Anwar Ibrahim plans to reveal that the falling out between him and his former boss, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, began as early as 1995 - three years before the ex-deputy premier was sacked - when the court hears his defamation suit.

The two protagonists are expected to face each other in court next year over a suit filed by Anwar who claimed he was defamed by Mahathir at a human rights conference last year.

Mahathir, who is the sole defendant named in the suit, had labeled Anwar a sodomist at an event organised by the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) last year.

In Anwar's reply to Mahathir's statement of defence filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, the ex-deputy premier said he would argue in court that his sacking was politically motivated.

According to Anwar, the then prime minister was unhappy with the way he, who was also finance minster, had dealt with financial mismanagement and gross misuse of government funds.

These alleged incidents mentioned in the 35-page reply filed by Anwar's counsel Sankara Nair today included:

  • In 1995, the Anti-Corruption Agency submitted a report to Anwar showing there was evidence of corruption against (ex-Malacca chief minister) Rahim Thamby Chik and (Industry and International Trade Minister) Rafidah Aziz, and then attorney-general Moktar Abdullah recommended prosecution against Rafidah. Mahathir told Anwar that the AG "did not understand politics" and he was "very annoyed" with Anwar for bringing up the matter.

  • In December 1996, Mahathir had questioned Anwar on the necessity to table the summary of the Price Waterhouse's preliminary findings against Perwaja Steel in Parliament which revealed questionable transactions and bad management by its chief executive officer, Eric Chia. Anwar said that Mahathir was "visibly and clearly annoyed" with him and had vehemently defended Chia.

  • In 1996, Anwar said he had obtained letters signed by top businessmen Halim Saad, Tajuddin Ramli and Wan Azmi, addressed to then Umno treasurer Daim Zainuddin. The letters stated that the trio were holding about 600 million of listed shares in Genting Resort World - valued at RM1 billion - in trust for Daim. But Mahathir dismissed the matter and said: "It is meant for Umno and I will deal with it."

  • Mahathir was also annoyed with Anwar for questioning the whereabouts of billions of Umno funds as the audited accounts were never submitted to the Umno political bureau and the Umno supreme council, the ruling party's highest decision-making body.

  • When Anwar rejected toll concessionaire Plus' appeal to increase toll charges, Mahathir was "most displeased" and instructed him to reverse the decision.

  • In 1997, Mahathir was upset with Anwar when the latter disagreed the then prime minister's proposal to the Treasury to devise a special scheme to bail out ailing Konsortium Perkapalan owned by his son, Mirzan.

    • In his reply, Anwar said he will also prove in court that Mahathir had abuse his powers in directing state-owned oil company Petronas to bail out Mirzan's company as the bailout exercise involved an outright cash payment of about RM700 million to the company.

    The showdown between the two politicians will be closely watched as Mahathir is likely to appear in court in person to response to the claims made by Anwar.

    False confessions

    In his statement of defence filed in April, Mahathir, among others, said his gay remarks against Anwar were justified based on facts, including the convictions of Anwar's ex-speech writer Dr Munawar Anees and Indonesian-born adopted brother Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja for sodomy offences involving the former deputy premier.

    Mahathir also said although the Federal Court has squashed Anwar's sodomy conviction, the country's highest court had made the remark that "there was evidence confirming that Anwar and Sukma were involved in homosexual activities".

    Countering this in his reply today, Anwar said "the words in the excerpt (of the decision) were irrelevant to the decision of the court."

    The ex-deputy premier also contended that Munawar and Sukma have since denied the charges against them and they pleaded guilty after being coerced to make false confessions when in police custody.

    In a related development, the Court of Appeal today quashed Sukma's conviction for sodomy and ordered a retrial.

    In an immediate response, Anwar's counsel Nair said: "Sukma's success in his appeal today at the Court of Appeal will surely give a boost to our client's case."

    Meanwhile, Anwar also contended that Mahathir was not protected by 'qualified privilege' claimed by the latter, who said he was free from legal action as his gay remarks were made in a function organised by Suhakam whose proceedings and functions are 'privilleged'.

    Anwar, was sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998, and subsequently charged and convicted for sodomy and corruption.

    He served six years in prison but has nevertheless insisted that the charges were trumped up as there was a political conspiracy against him, an allegation that Mahathir had denied.