Court awards RM200,000 to Anwar's former staff in suit against press aide

The Shah Alam Sessions Court has ordered an aide of Anwar Ibrahim to pay RM200,000 in damages to a former staff member of the PKR president, following a defamation suit over remarks related to an assault report against another of the politician's aides.

Tunku Nashrul Tunku Abaidah, Anwar's press secretary, was also ordered to issue a public apology to Muhammed Yusoff Rawther over his media statement in 2019, where he denied an assault incident which Yusoff claimed had taken place at Anwar's office.

Nashrul had also accused Yusoff of having disciplinary issues and drug problems.

The remarks were made in the wake of a police report lodged by Yusoff, claiming that he was physically attacked by Anwar's political secretary, Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak.

Yusoff also filed a separate civil suit against Farhash, claiming compensation for injuries sustained after the alleged assault.

Yusoff, who worked at Anwar’s bungalow office in Bukit Gasing, Petaling Jaya, as a research assistant, also filed a suit against the PKR president accusing him of sexually assaulting him some time in October 2018, days before the opposition leader won the Port Dickson by-election. 

Yusoff claimed to have suffered serious physical, psychological and social trauma as a result of the incident. The case is still pending in court.

In his decision today, judge Ishak Bakri, who said the plaintiff had proven the case against the defendant, also slapped Nashrul with an injunction barring him from repeating the allegations against Yusoff.

Yusoff was represented by lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla.