KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 — Datuk Seri Azmin Ali claimed Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was widely known to have engaged in "immoral acts or sexual practices” in a response to a suit filed by his voters, who are suing the Gombak MP for alleged breach of fiduciary duties.

Azmin, who once vouched for Anwar’s innocence when the PKR president was tried twice for sodomy, cited the allegation as one of many reasons for his exit from the Pakatan Harapan party.

The international trade and industries minister said Anwar’s "devious sexual behaviour” made him unqualified to be prime minister. Azmin pointed to the allegation made by Yusoff Rawther to support his claim. 

"Defendant (Azmin) states that apart from the struggle for power, practice of nepotism and factional politics in PKR, the defendant’s resignation as deputy president and member of PKR was based on the fact that DSAI (Anwar)...is wholly unqualified/or is suitable to lead PKR or become prime minister,” the reply said.

"The claim is supported by several concrete allegations regarding his behaviour/or sexual practices that is immoral as a Muslim, especially since DSAI returned (from jail) to become PKR president and was free to move.”

Yusoff filed a police report alleging Anwar had sexually assaulted him in 2018 and later swore by the allegation through a statutory declaration signed in November 2019.

Anwar had refused to take a polygraph test and did not sue Yusoff despite accusing the latter of lying, Azmin noted in his response.

"DSAI had initially announced that he would file a libel suit against Yusoff Rawther, thus it was just drama and/or an act that was merely DSAI’s dirty tactic to prove otherwise in a bid to gain trust from the public and particularly party members,” the Gombak MP said in his reply.

Azmin also highlighted a similar allegation by Aidil Azim bin Abu Adam who also signed a statutory declaration that Anwar had sexually assaulted him. 

Both Aidil and Yusoff will be called to testify, the reply stated.

Gombak voters filed a lawsuit at the High Court on November 27, 2020, alleging Azmin’s role of "orchestrating, participating or otherwise being involved in” the "Sheraton Move” plan which caused the PH government to collapse in February last year.

In their lawsuit, the 10 Gombak voters claimed Azmin had made false representations and had deceived them to gain their votes. 

They further claimed that Azmin, now a member of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, had breached his fiduciary obligations and duties towards them after they had entrusted him to be their elected representative.

Under the constitutional oath, MPs swear to faithfully discharge their duties to the best of their abilities and to preserve, protect and defend the Federal Constitution.