Anwar's RM60 million defamation suit against Nallakaruppan goes for trial

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's RM60 million defamation suit against Senator Datuk S. Nallakaruppan has returned to the High Court in Kuala Lumpur for trial.

This follows the decision of a five-member Federal Court panel today to unanimously allow Nallakaruppan's appeal to restore his statement of defence which was struck out by the High Court and Court of Appeal.

Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin chairing the panel said it was not a plain and obvious case to have Nallakaruppan's defence struck out.

He said there were triable issues in Nallakaruppan's defence which required to be tried at the High Court.

Zulkefli said the further particulars sought by Anwar were not facts but were in fact, evidence which must be adduced at the trial.

The panel which also comprised Federal Court judges Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar, Datin Paduka Zaleha Zahari, Datuk Hasan Lah and Datuk Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha ordered Anwar to pay RM20,000 in legal costs to Nallakaruppan.

Anwar filed the suit on Aug 25, 2008 over alleged derogatory remarks made by Nallakaruppan in an article, 'Anwar terima RM60 juta' (Anwar receives RM60 million) which was published in the Mingguan Malaysia and Sinar Harian newspapers in August, 2008.

On June 19, 2012, the High Court entered a judgement of liability against Nallakaruppan for his defamatory remarks against Anwar after allowing the opposition leader's application to strike out his (Nallakaruppan's) statement of defence.

Anwar applied to strike out Nallakaruppan's statement of defence as he claimed the latter failed to furnish better and further particulars on his allegations against Anwar, as directed by a court order issued on Aug 28, 2009.

Nallakaruppan, who is Malaysian Indian United Party (MUIP) president, was unsuccessful in his appeal at the Court of Appeal.

Subsequently, he filed an application for leave to appeal to the Federal Court and obtained the leave in August last year. The Federal Court heard his appeal today.

Nallakaruppan was represented by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah while R. Sivarasa appeared for Anwar.