Sanusi's legal troubles mount as he faces multiple lawsuits

SHAH ALAM - Caretaker Kedah Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, faces several court cases and defamation lawsuits.

On July 17, he was charged in the Sessions Court with two counts of seditious speech related to the issue of the appointment of the Selangor Menteri Besar and the establishment of the Unity Government during a political speech.

Sanusi, who is also the Perikatan Nasional election director, was accused of making statements with seditious tendencies, uttering words that tend to instil feelings of disloyalty towards any Royalty.

In the latest development, Sanusi is once again facing legal action from caretaker Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.

Amirudin, who is also the Selangor Pakatan Harapan Chairman, stated on Friday that his lawsuit is related to Sanusi's defamatory speech at the Perikatan Nasional Jelajah Mega PN Best 'Sayangi Kedah Sejahtera' campaign at Dataran Darul Aman, Jitra, Kedah.

Sanusi alleged that Amirudin was involved in a scandal with the founder of Berjaya Group, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, regarding the cleaning of the Klang River project.

Following that, Berjaya Land also filed a police report and took legal action against Sanusi's allegedly baseless and malicious statements regarding the company.

The CEO of Berjaya Land Group, Syed Ali Shahul Hameed, categorically denied all the unfounded allegations made by Sanusi during the speech on Aug 2 in Kedah.

Prior to this, on Dec 13 last year, Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, filed a defamation lawsuit against Sanusi over defamatory statements linking the Tambun MP to immoral behavior during the Tambun Jelajah PN Best campaign rally.

However, on June 28, the High Court in Alor Setar directed Anwar and Sanusi to submit written arguments before or on July 26 regarding the defamation lawsuit.

The written arguments were related to Anwar's opposition to Sanusi's application for the High Court to determine the question of the pardon granted to Anwar five years ago.

On Oct 9, 2019, Sanusi was also sued by former Pokok Sena MP, Datuk Mahfuz Omar, over a gesture made by the Kedah Perikatan Nasional Chairman, connecting the Amanah vice-president as the representative for the Pokok Sena constituency in the issue of relocating Sport Toto to the area.

Mahfuz also alleged that Sanusi published a 7-minute 57-second video on his Facebook account on July 27, 2019, showing a group of individuals protesting the opening of Sport Toto in Pokok Sena while holding a banner with the plaintiff's name.

On April 3, the Court of Appeal ordered Sanusi to pay RM120,000 in damages to Mahfuz for the defamation lawsuit.