KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s political secretary, Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, has sued former research worker Muhammad Yusoff Rawther for defamation over the latter’s press conference alleging sexual misconduct by the PKR president.

According to the Malaysiakini news portal, Farhash filed the lawsuit with the High Court here last Friday.

In his statement of claim, Farhash accused Yusoff of defaming him during a press conference on December 4 last year, a recording of which was also made available online.

The lawsuit asserted that Yusoff’s legal representatives rejected a letter of demand dated December 30 demanding for a retraction and apology.

Muhammad Yusoff, who was previously linked to PKR, made a statutory declaration last year accusing Anwar of making unsolicited sexual advances at his residence in Segambut last year.

Anwar denied this and pointed out that he had been campaigning for the Port Dickson by-election at the time of the alleged incident.

On January 14, the Attorney General’s Chambers announced that it was not pursuing charges over Yusoff’s allegations against Anwar, citing contradictory facts and insufficient evidence.

Anwar responded to the announcement by lauding the AGC for its professionalism but said he could not forgive the allegations against him.

* A previous version of this story contained errors which have since been corrected.