Muhammad Yusoff Rawther has rubbished Anwar Ibrahim’s contention that the former’s alleged sexual assault suit against the latter was ‘politically motivated’.
Through a court filing, Yusoff reiterated that his suit against the PKR president is to seek legal remedy over the sexual assault allegedly committed by the latter against the former.
“The plaintiff (Yusoff) is seeking legal redress for the wrong perpetrated on him, to wit, the sexual assault.
“This suit is not politically motivated and not intentionally timed and orchestrated to cause the downfall of the defendant’s (Anwar) political career.
“The political landscape in Malaysia has in recent years been volatile, with specific reference to internal party jostling and change of leadership.
“The plaintiff cannot be expected to twiddle his thumb and await for the so-called perfect opportunity to file his action,” Yusoff claimed in the court document filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court two days ago.
The filing is a reply to Port Dickson MP Anwar’s statement of defence and counterclaim against plaintiff Yusoff’s lawsuit linked to allegations of sexual assault.
It was reported that through the statement of defence and counterclaim, defendant Anwar not only dismissed the sexual assault allegations as “utterly false and fabricated”, but also contended that the suit was politically driven to prevent him from becoming prime minister.
Yusoff claimed to have once worked as Anwar’s research assistant, while the latter disputed that and contended the former had merely been a junior volunteer/intern at Anwar’s office at Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya.
Yusoff (above) came into the limelight in 2019 when he alleged he was physically assaulted at Anwar’s office and claimed at a press conference on Dec 3 the same year that he was also sexually assaulted. Yusoff relied on the statutory declaration during the media briefing.
Through the court filing seen by Malaysiakini, Yusoff contended that he was not complicit or colluded with anybody to degrade Anwar’s image and thwart the veteran politician’s bid to become prime minister.
“The plaintiff has no knowledge and/or connection and/or contact whatsoever with the person or persons named and/or unnamed in the counterclaim.
“The defendant has unjustly accused the plaintiff of diabolically plotting and stamping out his political advancement to palliate the wrong the defendant himself has perpetrated on the plaintiff, to wit, the sexual assault,” Yusoff contended.
Strict proof
The plaintiff alleged that the defendant’s counterclaim is “clearly an afterthought” due to Anwar only filing it when he was hit with the lawsuit.
Yusoff claimed that despite back on Jan 17 last year Anwar announced through lawyers that a civil suit would be filed against Yusoff, the defendant backtracked on this 10 days later.
In relation to Anwar’s contention that the sexual assault allegation is fabricated and untrue, Yusoff denied this and put the defendant to strict proof over this.
When contacted, Yusoff’s lawyer Mahajoth Singh said that the Kuala Lumpur High Court today has directed Anwar to file his reply to the plaintiff’s defence against the counterclaim, on or before Nov 10.
The counsel said that this was the outcome of case management of the suit before the High Court earlier today.
Mahajoth added that the court has also fixed Nov 24 for the next case management of the matter. - Mkini
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