KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — A witness in a RM100 million defamation suit brought by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today that he did not write the blog alleged to have defamed the former deputy prime minister.

Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that he is neither the owner of the controversial Papagamo blog nor its elusive author.

“No,” Wan Muhammad Azri replied categorically when Anwar’s lawyer asked if he was Papagomo.

Anwar is suing Wan Muhammad Azri for the defamatory blog, which called the opposition leader immoral and unqualified to hold public office.

Anwar said the blog had damaged his reputation and caused him and his family to suffer.

But Wan Muhammad Azri today responded with similar grievances, claiming that it was his reputation and image that were “severely tainted” following Anwar’s suit.

“I feel that the plaintiff is defaming me and the summons has left a lasting impact on my integrity,” he told Surendran.

Wan Muhammad Azri, who donned a T-shirt emblazoned with a message to “Keep calm and love Japan”, told the High Court that he did not previously bear Anwar any grudge.

“But I am angry now that I am being sued,” he added.

The 31-year-old former traffic constable maintained his position despite Mohd Fauzi Mohd Azmi’s, who runs the “Perisik Rakyat” blog, earlier testimony alleging the former to be “Papagomo”.

Mohd Fauzi, the first to testify in the hearing, said he met Wan Muhammad Azri at a bloggers’ convention in Subang Jaya in 2009 where the latter identified himself by the pseudonym.

Mohd Fauzi had also submitted photographic evidence of Wan Muhammad Azri at the conference, but the latter denied having attended the event altogether.

Mohd Fauzi was instrumental in pinpointing Wan Muhammad Azri’s identity in another trial, in which the latter was ordered to pay a sum of RM500,000 over a defamation suit filed by business personality Abdul Razak Mohd Noor.

But as proceedings of other courts are not admissible as evidence in a trial, judicial commissioner Rosilah Yop instructed both parties to omit the reference.

Surendran then proceeded to ask about the letter of demand, which Wan Muhammad Azri denied he had received.

According to the lawyer, the letter of demand was uploaded by Papagomo in full and followed by a threat to release a pornographic video from which screenshots had been taken and published on the blog.

However, Wan Muhammad Azri said that he had moved to Penang just as the Anwar filed the suit, but his house in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur was occupied by his brother.

Anwar, who testified before Wan Muhammad Azri, claimed that he might have even won with a bigger majority in the 13th General Election if not for the offensive blog post.

While Anwar denied that he was the person in the images, the article made direct references to him, he said when cross-examined by Wan Muhammad Azri’s lawyer Jasbeer Singh Kaura.

“It tarnishes my reputation (by portraying me) as a leader without morals and that I am not suitable to be a leader. Specifically, it created a bad perception amongst Malaysians, the majority of whom are Muslims. Such things are deemed taboo, especially in Malay society,” he said.

The trial resumes tomorrow.