PRIME Minister Anwar Ibrahim has filed a defamation lawsuit against Kuala Terengganu MP Ahmad Amzad Hashim for statements that Anwar lied about receiving a salary of RM1 when he was Selangor economic adviser.

Anwar, 75, filed the suit through S.N. Nair & Partners in Kuala Terengganu High Court, naming Amzad as the sole defendant.

Nair said the suit was filed at 3.59pm this afternoon.

In the statement of claim, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman claimed that on December 7, Amzad had made several statements to a group of customers while dining at a restaurant.

The PKR president claimed that the statement was republished on the @nelly3868 TikTok  account the same day (December 7) and received more than 4,980 views, 62 comments, 116 ‘like’ buttons, 18 ‘favourite’ buttons, 50 shares, and is still accessible now.

Anwar said the statement was quoted and published by Malaysiakini, the next day (December 8) in the article “S’gor economic adviser job: Anwar seeks public apology from MP”.

Anwar claimed the statement implied he was untrustworthy and dishonest about receiving millions of ringgit from the Selangor government as an economic adviser, deceiving the public by stating that he received a salary of RM1 as well as committing a criminal offence and betraying the people’s mandate.

Anwar also claimed the statement was false, malicious and disparaging to him.

He denounced all the allegations against him regarding the receipt of a salary of RM15 million and the allegations of previous convictions, which he said were politically motivated.

According to Anwar, Amzad was clearly deliberate and malicious when he ignored the official answer of former Selangor menteri besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, who during the state assembly on March 27, 2012, stated that Anwar’s salary was only a symbolic sum of RM1.

Anwar said that on December 8, he issued a demand for Amzad to withdraw, apologise, promise not to repeat the statement and pay damages, but Amzad did not respond.

Anwar seeks damages, plus a retraction, an apology and a promise not to make any similar statements in future. – Bernama, December 22, 2022.