KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has failed to compel Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to provide documents linked to the RM150 million defamation lawsuit initiated by the former.
Counsel Rafique Rashid Ali who represented the former prime minister said the Shah Alam High Court Judge Zaharah Hussain had dismissed his client's application for discovery of documents today.
Anwar in his statement of defence cited several decisions made by the former Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA) chairman to justify why the suit should be thrown out.
The Pakatan Harapan chairman listed examples of decisions made by Dr Mahathir during his 22-year tenure as prime minister for the first time from 1981 to 2003, and again from 2018 to 2020 which protected business personalities closely linked to him.
Anwar said Dr Mahathir had made decisions which encouraged the practice of cronyism in the country, especially during his first tenure as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
Anwar referred to the bailing out of Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd (KPB) owned by Dr Mahathir's son Mirzan by Petronas and Malaysia International Shipping Corporation (MISC) in 1997.
The prime minister also cited the awarding of a Telekom Malaysia Bhd contract worth RM214 million to Opcom Cables Sdn Bhd, a company with Dr Mahathir's sons and daughter-in-law as directors.
Following this, Dr Mahathir asked the court to issue an order to compel Anwar to produce documents to support his allegations.
Rafique said the judge in her decision said Anwar's defence pertained to an event or incident that occurred in the past but without the presentation of any documents.
He said, however, the court instructed Anwar's defence team to submit any documents related to the allegations during the pre-trial, if they had any.
"The burden is still on Anwar to submit the documents," he said.
Dr Mahathir alleged that Anwar had defamed him by accusing him of being racist and enriching himself and his family members during his 22-year tenure as prime minister.
He claimed Anwar made the impugned statement in his speech during PKR's special national congress held at the Malawati Stadium in Shah Alam on March 18.
During the special congress, Anwar had referred to someone "who in the past had been in power for 22 years and an additional 22 months" as taking advantage of his position to enrich himself and his family.
Anwar, who did not specify any name during his speech at the party's special congress, also said this person had complained about the Malays losing everything when he was no longer in power.
Dr Mahathir said he had never been accused or convicted of any wrongdoing involving power abuse or misuse of funds either during or after serving as prime minister.
He claimed Anwar made impugned statements that were unfounded and only based on hearsay from the media.
The 97-year-old politician is seeking RM100 million in exemplary damages and RM50 million in general damages.
He also demanded Anwar issue a written apology and hold a special press conference to apologise for making such a statement.