Anwar’s aides fail to remove parts of Yusoff Rawther's suits

Two aides to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim today lost their respective applications to remove parts of a suit against them by Muhammad Yusoff Rawther which they claimed were political stunts and abuse of court process for political gain.

Judges in separate Shah Alam Sessions Courts today dismissed the expungement applications - with costs - by Anwar’s political aide Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak and press-secretary Tunku Nashrul Tunku Abaidah, which the duo filed on Oct 25, last year.

Yusoff (photo, above), who claimed to be Anwar's former research assistant, sued the two in September last year claiming they physically assaulted him at Anwar’s office in Bukit Gasing the previous May.

As a result, Farhash sought to remove nine paragraphs from Yusoff’s statement of claim.

The former claimed that the paragraphs constituted an abuse of court process as they were irrelevant to the main suit, politically motivated, and a “political stunt” by linking the matter to Anwar, who was not involved in the alleged incident.

In a similar bid, Tunku Nahsrul sought to remove up to eight paragraphs or sub-paragraphs relating to Anwar, as the former, too, said they were irrelevant to the main suit.

Today, Judge Fathiyah Idris dismissed Farhash's application with costs, while Judge Ishak Bakri dismissed Tunku Nashrul’s application with costs of RM1,000 to the plaintiff, Yusoff.

March 3 was set for case management. All parties have been instructed to file their pre-trial documents by the date.

Farhash, who is also Perak PKR chief and a member of the party’s central committee, is represented by lawyers Muhammad Azwar Ab Manab dan Azrul Haziq while Yusoff is represented by Haniff Khatri Abdulla.

Tunku Nashrul, meanwhile, was also represented by Azwar and Azrul while Nasbal Harun appeared on behalf of Haniff.

Yusoff came into the limelight last year, through the allegation of him being physically assaulted at Anwar’s office, and through a Dec 3 press conference where he claimed to have been sexually assaulted by Anwar.

On Jan 14 this year, the Attorney-General’s Chambers announced that no charges would be levelled against Anwar due to lack of evidence.

On Jan 24, Farhash filed a defamation suit against Yusoff in relation to the Dec 3 press conference. - Mkini