Court rejects bid to strike out Gombak voters’ suit, rules portion on Anwar’s alleged sexual misconduct to stay

The Kuala Lumpur High Court has refused to expunge allegations of sexual misconduct involving PKR president Anwar Ibrahim which formed part of Mohamed Azmin Ali’s defence against a suit by a group of Gombak voters.

Judge Akhtar Tahir at the same time dismissed the senior minister’s application to strike out the suit by the 10 individuals and fixed hearing dates for June next year.

The 10 who are registered as voters in the Gombak constituency won by Azmin in the 2018 election filed the suit against him in November last year, saying he had breached his fiduciary duty through the “Sheraton Move” which caused the Pakatan Harapan government to collapse in February last year.

The plaintiffs sought among others a declaration that Azmin deceived them during the election in the constituency and breached the representation made to them.

In his statement of defence, Azmin said among others that he had decided to quit PKR as he felt Anwar was not qualified to lead the party or become the next prime minister.

Azmin also said he was prepared to spill never-before seen evidence against Anwar.

Lawyer N Yohendra, representing the voters, said in a WhatsApp message to the media that Akhtar had set June 7, 8, 9 and 10 next year for hearing and April 7 for case management.

Azmin filed the application to strike out the suit on March 12 this year on grounds that the suit did not disclose a reasonable cause of action, and was defamatory, frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of the court process, as well as ultra vires the Federal Constitution.

He also said the suit violated his fundamental right to freedom of association as provided under Article 10, Clause (1)(c) of the Federal Constitution.