Anifah playing to the gallery, Anwar tells court in defamation suit

Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, wife of jailed opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, at the Jalan Duta High Court today for Anwar’s defamation suit against Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, February 17, 2015.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman was playing to the gallery when he claimed that Anwar had sent a businessman to entice him and other Sabah MPs to defect to the opposition, the court heard today.

Anwar said Anifah made the allegation because the Umno general assembly was on at the time.

"Obviously, it was made for a specific audience and for the Umno media," the jailed opposition leader said when re-examined by his lawyer Razlan Hadri Zulkifili today.

He said Anifah's allegation was also an afterthought because it was not pleaded in his defence earlier in 2009.

Anwar has filed a RM100 million suit against the minister for defamatory words uttered during a news conference in Washington with former United States secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Anifah had told reporters then that Anwar offered him the post of deputy prime minister if he enticed federal lawmakers from Sabah to topple the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government by joining the opposition.

In his statement of claim, Anwar alleged that Anifah's claims were baseless, unfounded and grossly negligent and had been widely reported in local and foreign media. 

Anwar, who was convicted for sodomy by the Federal Court a week ago, was brought by prison officials to give evidence following Anifah's successful application to amend his defence last December.

On November 27, Anifah took the stand and said businessman Datuk Ishak Ismail, a close associate of Anwar, had offered him RM100 million to bring 10 MPs from Sabah to join PR and topple the BN federal government in 2008.

But he did not include this piece of evidence when he filed his defence in 2009, which had only stated that he was offered the post of deputy prime minister.

Anwar said he had not been close to Ishak since he was sacked from the government in 1998 and had only met him once in Munich, Germany in 2004.

"To survive, he and others has to cut all ties with me. This is how the system operates in this country," he said, adding that any suggestion that the businessman was his crony was absurd.

He said Anifah, the Kimanis MP, must be familiar with the crony system but that it did not necessarily apply to all.

Anwar, who was finance minister between 1991 and 1998, said he knew hundreds of businessmen while in that position as they had submitted business proposals and held meetings with him.

Anwar, who held the position of deputy prime minister from 1993 until his removal in 1998, said he was fully investigated by the authorities whether he had secret bank accounts and timber concessions.

"They could not prove that I took even a share," he said.

Earlier, there was a tense moment between Anwar and lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah in the court room.

Shafee, who represents Anifah, at the outset of his cross-examination informed Anwar that he could seek clarification if he did not understand his questions.

To this Anwar replied: “Very clear but unnecessary.”

The Permatang Pauh MP did not look at Shafee who began posing questions.

He told the court that Ishak was close to him until 1998 but had left for good reasons.

Shafee: How do you know him?

Anwar: He is from Penang, just like you (Shafee). I was a minister when he (Ishak) approached me, just like what you did.

Shafee then told Anwar that this was not the place to play the fool.

"My question is whether you know Ishak, not me," he said.

Shafee was the ad hoc deputy public prosecutor who secured the conviction for the prosecution in the sodomy case, both in the Court of Appeal and the apex court.

However, Shafee has been criticised by the legal fraternity and former attorney-general Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman for unwarranted attacks against Anwar, even after the delivery of the apex court's judgment.

Shafee had been asking why Anwar did not give evidence from the witness stand and did not utilise the defence of alibi to show he was not at the crime scene.

The Federal Court bench led by Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria dismissed Anwar’s final appeal against his conviction for sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

The panel also upheld the five-year jail term imposed by the Court of Appeal on March 7 last year.

Anwar also told the court that Ishak, a former KFC deputy executive chairman, was a committee member, treasurer and secretary of the Permatang Pauh Umno division between 1982 and 1998.

Anwar said he had been the division chairman during that period.

He said it was malicious and nasty for Anifah to suggest that Ishak had offered RM100 million to entice him and several MPs to realise his September 16, 2008 dream for Pakatan Rakyat to capture Putrajaya.

Anifah in his testimony said Ishak had made the offer sometime in 2008 at the Hilton hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Anwar said he had not communicated with Ishak about Anifah's allegation because the businessman had issued a statement but the minister had not responded.

"It was an absurd proposition. He (Ishak) has denied it. Period," he added.

Judicial Commissioner Siti Khadijah S. Hassan Badjenid will deliver her ruling on June 5.

- TMI