PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has given one last chance of adjournment in the appeal by Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin over the RM150,000 he has to pay Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for defaming the latter, 13 years ago.
This comes on the heel of an application by Khairy's lawyers for an adjournment of the hearing of the appeal today, as his lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has called in sick.
"Come rain or shine, fire or flood, pandemic or no pandemic, we have to proceed.
"So (on the date of the hearing) if any counsel wakes up with any problem, the other co counsel will have to rise to the occasion. Is that clear?," judge Datuk Lee Swee Seng said cautioning that the court was giving a final postponement.
Lee who led a three-member bench which also comprised judges Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera and Datuk Darryl Goon Siew Chye said the appeal which has been pending since 2017 should be disposed of as soon as possible.
He said the court will not allow any further adjournment of the case.
"We are sympathetic with respect to health issues, but then matters that are long pending like a 2017 case could have been disposed of.
"In the event the lead counsel is medically indisposed, the co counsel would have to rise and argue (on the hearing date), " the judge said in the proceeding which was conducted via Zoom.
Earlier, counsel Sarah Abishegam who represented Khairy requested for an adjournment of the appeal as Shafee was not able to conduct the hearing due to a fever he developed because of a pre-existing Rheumatoid Arthritis condition.
Sarah said she will submit a copy of the medical certificate to the court.
"This morning, I received a call from Shafee who is ill and the issue is that it is an old Rheumatoid Arthritis which is causing him some pain on his wrists and right shoulder
"We have put in a letter to the court this morning. We apologise about this," she said.
Meanwhile, counsel J. Leela who represented Anwar said in the circumstances, they have no objections to the adjournment.
The new hearing date will be fixed via e-Review later.
On Sept 27, 2017, the Kuala Lumpur High Court awarded RM150,000 in general damages to Anwar, ruling that the degree of the allegation made by Khairy was serious and that the defamatory statement was made in a speech at a public event and subsequently republished widely.
In the decision, judge Azizul Azmi Adnan however ruled that the statement had no elements of malice.
The PKR president filed the suit on March 7, 2008, claiming that Khairy had uttered defamatory words about him during a ceramah at Lembah Pantai on Feb 20, the same year.
The words by Khairy, who is also Rembau MP, were published on several online portals like Malaysiakini, which carried an article titled "Anwar and Kin no Threat".
Anwar alleged the words implied he was involved in unnatural sexual activities that contravened Islam and that he was of immoral character.