KUALA LUMPUR: Caretaker Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has taken issue with the gag order served on him by the Alor Star High Court yesterday, saying that he was kept in the dark about the application for the order made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim last week.
A defiant Sanusi said the application for the ex-parte interim injunction was apparently filed on July 26, but he was not informed about the matter.
"Suddenly there was an injunction order. My legal team told me that the order given to me was obtained 'ex-parte' (one side), which means that the application, as allocated under Rule 29 Rule 1(2A) of the Rules of Court 2012 is only for certain circumstances.
"The application made by Anwar was one-sided and in secret, without submitting it to the defendant, they submitted it unilaterally without the defendant being called to argue, and allowed by the court.
"The application was allowed in such a short period of time, where Anwar filed it on July 26 and was allowed just four days later. There was no rain, no storm but suddenly trees swayed and leaves fell," he said in a statement on his Facebook account today.
It was reported yesterday that Anwar was granted an ex-parte interim injunction against Sanusi, restraining the latter from uttering, repeating and publishing statements relating to Anwar's defamation suit filed against him, on any platform, until after the trial or any further court order.
This includes restraining Sanusi from uttering, repeating and publishing statements at any ceramah, event, interview, posting or publication in the media against Anwar.
Anwar's lawyer Datuk Sankara Nair had confirmed the gag order, issued on Sunday, saying that it was granted by High Court judge Mahazan Mat Taib.
He had said the judge also ordered Sanusi to abide by the ex-parte injunction order immediately.
Sankara had also confirmed that the sealed order had been served to Sanusi's solicitors at 12.30pm.
He said the application for the injunction, which was filed on July 26, came after Sanusi's speeches made on two separate occasions at "Jelajah PN Best Negri Sembilan" in Nilai, on March 18 and "Jelajah Selangor Baharu-Selayang" in Selayang, on July 11 this year.
"In the event Sanusi commits a breach of the terms of the injunction, it would be amounting to contempt of court and he will be subjected to committal proceedings and liable to damages.
"Sanusi is therefore given a stern warning to abide by the terms of the injunction or else he shall swiftly face all legal consequences," he said.
Anwar filed a defamation suit against Sanusi on Dec 13 last year, over the latter's statement made during a 15th General Election (GE15) ceramah in Tambun, Perak, last year.
Based on the writ of demands, Anwar claimed that the Kedah Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman, on Nov 13, had given a ceramah in support of the coalition's Tambun parliamentary candidate Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, which was attended by tens of thousands of supporters.
Sanusi, in the speech, had allegedly claimed that Anwar was a fraud, untrustworthy and unethical and had betrayed the people's mandate.
Anwar, in his suit, is seeking compensation on general, severe and exemplary damages, as well as an injunctive order to restrain the defendant from further disclosing, composing or publishing similar statements against him.
He is also seeking for the defendant to pay five per cent per year on the sum of the judgment, from the date of accrual of action until the date of full settlement, costs of a solicitor and client basis, as well as other reliefs that the court deems fair and appropriate.