Saturday June 16, 2007
‘Suit abuses court process’ Issue decided in first case, court told
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was abusing the court process when he sued Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for the second time, the High Court heard.
The former prime minister's counsel, Datuk V.K. Lingam, said the suit should be thrown out because the issue had been decided in the first RM100mil suit, which Anwar filed in 1999.
He said the High Court had thrown out that suit on the grounds that Dr Mahathir, then prime minister, had the qualified privilege to make statements that his deputy was a homosexual.
“There is also an un-reversed judicial finding in criminal proceedings against the plaintiff (Anwar) that he had taken part in homosexual acts. Another man still stands convicted of taking part with him in the acts,” he added.
Lingam said this during the first day of the hearing of Dr Mahathir's application to strike out Anwar's defamation case against him yesterday.
On Jan 27 last year, Anwar filed the defamation suit against Dr Mahathir over his statement about Anwar’s sodomy charges.
Anwar, who has since been cleared of the charges by the Federal Court, claimed that Dr Mahathir had uttered the defamatory statements during a press conference at the Human Rights Commission premises on Sept 9, 2005.
Apart from general damages, Anwar is seeking exemplary damages as well as an injunction to stop Dr Mahathir from repeating the defamatory statements.
Lingam said in the interest of the parties and the public at large, there should be finality in litigation, adding that the second suit was “scandalous, vexatious and an abuse of the court process.”
Raja Aziz Addruse, who appeared for Anwar, argued that the suit should not be thrown out without having its merits heard.
“Can one brush aside the statement of claim on the grounds that there is no reasonable cause of action? The suit should not be struck out based on a preliminary application or what another judge had decided in another case,” he said.
He added that the issues had not been aired in the first suit because it was struck out at the initial stage.
“Besides, the harassment is not by my client but by the defendant. He kept saying that my client is a sodomite. If they say that this is a re-litigation of the same issue, it’s because he kept saying it,” said Raja Aziz.
Judicial commissioner Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat fixed July 4 for decision.
Anwar is also represented by Datuk Param Cumaraswamy and S.N. Nair while Dr Mahathir’s other counsels are Datuk V. Sithambaram and R. Thayalan.
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