COURT STRIKES OUT WAYTHA MOORTHY’S SUIT AGAINST ANWAR, RM80,000 COSTS AWARDED

KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 (Bernama) -- The High Court here today allowed Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s bid to strike out an originating summons filed by P. Waytha Moorthy challenging his appointment as Prime Minister and Tambun Member of Parliament (MP).

Judge Alice Loke Yee Ching, in allowing the application, held that the court has no jurisdiction to entertain the summons, as any challenge to an election must be brought by way of an election petition.

“The summons is unsustainable and unarguable. The plaintiff (Waytha Moorthy) has no prospect of success. Accordingly, the striking-out application is allowed and the summons is struck out,” she said.

Justice Loke further said that the court, in hearing the originating summons, was not sitting as an election court, nor was the action commenced by way of an election petition.

She made it clear that Section 33 (1) of the Election Offences Act 1954 provides that an election petition must be tried by an election judge, defined as a High Court judge nominated by the Chief Justice to hear such matters.

Right after the ruling, counsel Ranjit Singh, appearing for Anwar, sought costs of RM125,000, arguing that the plaintiff’s action, as a senior lawyer, constituted an abuse of process.

“So, if it is tried in law, and you are a senior lawyer bringing this action, and my lady finds that there is not only no cause of action,  but that it constitutes an abuse of process, we are entitled to costs as of right.

“My lady, my client (Anwar) was appointed Prime Minister in 2022, while the summons was only filed last year,” he said.

Meanwhile, counsel S. Karthigesan, representing Waytha Moorthy, submitted that the matter concerned the national and public interest, not a personal matter, and urged the court to make no order as to costs.

The court then ordered Waytha Moorthy to pay RM80,000 in costs to Anwar.

Waytha Moorthy attended today’s proceedings.

On Aug 12 last year, Waytha Moorthy filed the originating summons seeking declarations that Anwar’s appointment as Prime Minister on Nov 24, 2022, was unconstitutional, null and void, and also sought declarations that Anwar’s election as the Tambun MP in the 15th General Election was likewise unconstitutional and invalid.

Following that, in Oct last year, Anwar filed an application to strike out the summons on the grounds that it contravened various mandatory procedural and constitutional as well as statutory requirements prescribed for challenging or questioning election results.

He also claimed that the summons was baseless, disclosed no reasonable cause of action and constituted an abuse of the court process.

-- BERNAMA