PUTRAJAYA (Dec 15): A five-member Federal Court bench today allowed Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaludin Abu Bakar to have his appeal against having to pay RM150,000 in damages for defaming Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to be reheard in the Court of Appeal (COA).

The bench, led by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, unanimously allowed the appeal from Khairy, who is also the Rembau Member of Parliament (MP). The apex court also ordered Anwar to pay RM30,000 as costs.

The other judges on the bench were Federal Court Judges Datuk P Nalini, Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Datuk Seri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim and Datuk Rhozariah Bujang.

With today's decision, which the judges delivered online via Zoom, the matter is now reverted back to the appellate court where the merits of Khairy's appeal will be heard in full. Case management by e-review will be held tomorrow.

The COA in February 2018 dismissed Khairy's appeal after striking out his notice of appeal, saying it was defective. At the time, Khairy was the youth and sports minister.

In today's hearing, Khairy was represented by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and Sarah Abishegam. J Leela appeared for Anwar. Sarah and Leela separately confirmed the apex court's decision with theedgemarkets.com.

Sarah added that the decision meant that the notice of appeal filed in the COA is valid, so it was an error for the appellate court to strike out the appeal.

It was reported that on Sept 29, 2017, Anwar won his civil suit against Khairy, and the former Umno Youth chief was then ordered by the High Court to pay the damages, with another RM60,000 as costs for remarks he made in 2008.

Khairy then appealed against the decision made by the High Court, which refused to allow him to amend his statement of defence after the trial and subsequently found him liable for defamation.

The COA then dismissed Khairy's appeal based on the technicality that he only filed a single notice of appeal, which Anwar's lawyers argued was defective and should be dismissed.

At the time, the COA ruled that it was bound by a precedent set in the A Santamil Selvi (PI Bala's widow) case, where her lawyer filed one notice of appeal, though the court delivered several decisions as it struck out her case against nine defendants. So, the COA then ruled that Santamil should have filed separate notices of appeal for each of the decisions, and not just one.

Anwar filed the lawsuit against Khairy in March 7, 2008 and sought for RM100 million in damages from the latter following a political ceramah in Lembah Pantai, where the latter used the phrase "main belakang", which suggested that the now opposition chief was a homosexual and a person of low moral character.