Ex-aide withdraws appeal to remove Anwar's counterclaims in sexual assault suit

Muhammed Yusoff Rawther has withdrawn his appeal against a High Court decision dismissing his application to remove several paragraphs in Anwar Ibrahim's statement of defence and counterclaim in his lawsuit against the prime minister.

A three-member Court of Appeal comprising justices Lee Swee Seng, Hashim Hamzah and Lim Chong Fong struck out the appeal and ordered Yusoff to pay Anwar RM5,000 in costs.

Earlier, Yusoff's counsel Reenajit Kaur Golen said they had written to the court on March 6 to notify it about the withdrawal of the appeal.

Anwar's counsel Navpreet Singh said the appellant’s decision to withdraw the appeal only showed that he agreed with the High Court’s decision that he had failed to pass the striking-out threshold test.

"The appellant filed the notice of appeal and proceeded with case management sessions to obtain directions to file submissions. However, he made a U-turn to withdraw the appeal a month before the appeal hearing date today," he said.
 
The lawyer then sought RM5,000 in costs as the appellant had retracted the appeal at the last minute.

On July 14, 2021, Yusoff, who is Anwar's former research assistant, filed the suit claiming that Anwar had sexually assaulted him.
 
He sought, among others, special, general, aggravated and exemplary damages, as well as interest, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court.

On Sept 9 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Yusoff's application to strike out several paragraphs in Anwar's statement of defence and counterclaim. 

Anwar, in his statement of defence filed on Sept 28, 2021, claimed that Yusoff had lied under oath to the authorities regarding the sexual assault.

According to the PKR president, who filed a counterclaim on the same date, Yusoff had concocted a story about a sexual assault to tarnish his political career to ensure that he would not become the prime minister.