Lahad Datu: Utusan and UMNO told to retract claim against Anwar

PKR today accused both UMNO and Utusan Malaysia of trying to prevent a case against Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on the Lahad Datu intrusion to come to trial.

Alleging this, PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali, claimed that the Umno-linked Malay daily should instead withdraw its "vicious" and “false” allegation against Anwar.

Last year, Anwar had filed a RM100 million suit against Utusan and TV3 for implying that he played a role in the Sulu intrusion of Lahad Datu.

“Utusan is the mouthpiece of UMNO and is owned by them; Prime Minister Najib (Razak)'s personal representative also sits on the board of Utusan Malaysia.

“Najib and UMNO are thus fully responsible for the false and politically motivated attacks upon Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim through Utusan Malaysia,” argued Azmin.

The Gombak MP and Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman alleged that Utusan “practices the worst kind of gutter journalism.”

Azmin said that neither Utusan nor UMNO-BN has produced a single piece of evidence to prove that Anwar or any other opposition leader was involved in that tragic incident in February last year.

“It is shocking that Umno and Utusan have no hesitation in disseminating lies involving national security and territorial integrity,” he said in a press statement today.

On March 8 last year, Anwar sued Utusan, its group editor-in-chief Datuk Abdul Aziz Ishak, Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad(TV3), its group managing editor Datuk Shahruddin Abdul Latif and Buletin Utama news editor Ing Boon Seng.

All the defendants had argued that they took reasonable care in the publication of the article and airing of the news programme, adding that they exercised responsible journalism.

Earlier this week, Utusan applied to recuse the Judicial Commissioner Rosilah Yop's from hearing the case.

The lawyer for Utusan argued that the judge’s recent verdict in the Papagomo case which found that Anwar had a ‘good reputation’ was prejudicial to the current case.

However, today, the High Court reportedly threw out Utusan’s application, saying that there was no link between the present case and the previous one, where Anwar was awarded RM850,000.