PUTRAJAYA (Jan 10): The Court of Appeal (COA) has fixed Sept 17 to hear the appeal of Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar (pictured) over having to pay RM150,000 to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for defaming him 13 years ago.
The date was fixed by COA deputy registrar Mohd Khairy Haron, after case management was done on Friday.
Anwar's counsel J Leela confirmed the date to theedgemarkets.com when contacted.
It was reported that the Federal Court had on Dec 15 allowed Khairy's appeal for his case to be reheard on its full merits at the 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), and 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.
The COA in February 2018 dismissed the Umno politician's appeal after striking out his notice of appeal, saying it was defective without listening to its merits. At the time, Khairy was the youth and sports minister.
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 the now opposition chief was a homosexual and a person of low moral character.