KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — The High Court today set May 27 to decide whether Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s past sodomy conviction can be raised in his defamation suit against former PKR man Datuk S. Nallakaruppan.
Judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab said he will need time to consider the submissions from both parties.
Nallakaruppan’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said he should be allowed to raise Anwar’s sodomy conviction during the cross examination as it is relevant to the case.
“I have emphasised a lot of time that people associate defamation cases with civil cases where the platform is about people’s reputation, conviction goes squarely into people’s reputation,” he said during his submissions.
Today is the second day of hearing for PKR de facto leader Anwar’s RM60 million defamation lawsuit he filed against Nallakaruppan almost seven years ago.
Anwar had filed the suit against Nallakaruppan on August 25, 2008, after the latter allegedly issued defamatory remarks in an article, “Anwar terima RM60 juta” (Anwar receives RM60 million) that was published in local papers Mingguan Malaysia and Sinar Harian.
In his witness statement that was tendered in court, Anwar claimed that Nallakaruppan had reportedly accused him of receiving RM60 million from Magnum Corporation Bhd, and alleged that it painted him as an individual unfit to be a political leader and as having done something immoral.
He also claimed that the remarks had tarnished his image to Malaysians — especially Muslims — since gambling is forbidden in Islam.
Today, Anwar lawyer, N Surendran argued that his sodomy conviction has nothing to do with this case.
“What we need to establish is did the defendant say these words and whether they are libelous,” he said.
He added under the Evidence Act, evidence of character is irrelevant.
