UPDATED
By Debra ChongKUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 — Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s RM100 million defamation suit against the country's oldest newspaper for insinuating he was an “American agent” was heard in the High Court today, six years after filing.
The former deputy prime minister claimed that the New Straits Times (NST) had tarnished his reputation in an uncredited article on March 2, 2002 headlined “Anwar's link to US lobbyist”.
“I was made to be seen in the eye of the public, the Malaysian public in particular, as a person of no integrity, moral and dignity; bereft of principles; disloyal to Malaysia; dishonest; corrupt; an untrustworthy leader and politician; an American agent and a person who has abused my positions for my personal gains,” Anwar told the High Court this morning.
Two other witnesses were called into the witness box after the 62-year-old PKR adviser.
Retired graft buster Abdul Razak Idris told the court he investigated Anwar on corruption claims totalling RM3 billion by former Bank Negara assistant governor Datuk Abdul Murad Khalid six years ago, but closed the book after finding no proof.
Abdul Razak was the director of investigations in the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), the predecessor to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) at that time, and left the service in 2004.
He added that he travelled to Singapore to interview Abdul Murad and also to Britain to speak with Datuk Nazir Abdullah and two other Europeans whose names he no longer remembered.
Under cross examination from NST's lawyer Nad Segaram, Abdul Razak admitted he ended his investigations without visiting the US or contacting the lobbyist, Douglas H. Paal, who was linked to Anwar through an American think-tank, the Asia Pacific Policy Centre (APPC).
Abdul Murad had made a statutory declaration a decade ago in which he accused Anwar of dishing out contracts to cronies in return for financial support, which he stashed away in some 10 “master accounts” abroad.
He was not called to testify, nor was NST’s former group editor-in-chief Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad.
Anwar is also suing Abdullah for damages as he was the NST boss then.
Instead, a former NST deputy group editor, Rose Ismail, took the oath and admitted she was the author behind the article.
However, Rose, then NST's managing editor, denied his claims that she had ulterior motives and deliberately damaged his public image.
She explained that the article was based on a report published by a credible American magazine called New Republic which ran a story linking Anwar to the lobbyist.
Rose said the NST article was a follow-up to the news after Anwar's sacking from government, which she believed interested the public.
The High Court fixed submissions for tomorrow.
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