KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 — The hearing of the defamation lawsuit filed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim against former Kuala Terengganu Member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim is set for three days from April 23 next year at the Kuala Terengganu High Court in Terengganu.
The lawsuit was filed over Ahmad Amzad’s alleged defamatory statement that Anwar lied when he said he only received a salary of RM1 when he was the Selangor Economic Adviser.
Anwar’s lawyer, Datuk S.N Nair, said the hearing dates of April 23, 24 and 25 were set by Judge Datuk Hassan Abdul Ghani during case management yesterday.
“The court has ordered both parties to submit their witness statements by April 11, 2024, at the latest,” he said when contacted here.
In the statement of claim filed on December 22 last year, Anwar, who is also PKR president claimed that Ahmad Amzad had made several statements to a group of customers while dining at a restaurant on December 7.
Anwar, who is also the PKR president, claimed that the statements implied, among other things, that he was untrustworthy and dishonest about receiving millions of ringgit from the Selangor state government when he was its economic adviser.
It also implied that he deceived the public by stating that he received a salary of RM1 as an economic adviser, committed a criminal offence and betrayed the people’s mandate.
Anwar claimed that the slanderous statements were false, malicious and disparaging, adding that he was highly respected nationally and internationally as someone who was against corruption.
He also denounced allegations that he was politically motivated.
On June 27, the Kuala Terengganu Election Court annulled the victory of Ahmad Amzad who represented PAS for the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat in the 15th General Election (GE15), after finding that the petitioner, Datuk Mohd Zubir Embong of Barisan Nasional (BN) had succeeded in proving that corruption had taken place with the aim of influencing voters in GE15. — Bernama
