KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Costly legal fees was the main reason why Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a former political aide to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, dropped his RM50 million defamation suit against the jailed opposition leader earlier today.
According to English news portal The Star Online, Mohd Saiful said in a statement that he was unable to bear the cost and the long legal process despite having a “concrete case”.
“I am not able to bear the legal cost. I have to mortgage my property and have to come up and down to court,” he was quoted as saying.
“It has been seven years for me to go through legal process to prove the authenticity of the police report that I made in 2008.”
The Star Online also reported Mohd Saiful confirming that he would not pursue the suit against his former boss, although he still stands by the report that he was sodomised by the former Permatang Pauh MP.
Anwar is currently being incarcerated at the Sungai Buloh Prison for five years after the Federal Court on February 10 convicted him of being guilty for sodomising Saiful.
Saiful had also filed a civil suit in June last year seeking damages for his alleged losses and physical pain and suffering since the sodomy incident in 2008.
In his statement of claim, Saiful said Anwar had falsely accused him of conspiring against him with his police report and defaming him.
Anwar, however, denied that the allegations were false and said the defamation suit was pointless because Saiful had no reasonable cause of action.
Before the case was withdrawn today, the judge had previously set August 10 as the date for trial to start.
