Zul Noordin quits as Anwar's lawyer in qazaf case

Sacked PKR lawmaker Zulkifli Noordin today told the Syariah High Court that he will not represent Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tomorrow in his qazaf application, escalating his spat with his former party and client.

Zulkifli decision came days after he was sacked from the party last Saturday for indiscipline, prompting him to denounce the PKR leadership with snide remarks against party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and challenging her to contest his Kulim-Bandar Baharu seat.

He did not explain his reasons for not withdrawing as Anwar's lawyers in a letter to the Federal Territory Syariah High Court Registrar. The letter was uploaded to his website.

Earlier today, Zulkifli said he will be in court in his capacity as the lawyer Anwar officially appointed.

“On record, I am Anwar’s lawyer … and I will be in court tomorrow. Whether I am asked to withdraw or otherwise I still need to be there,” said Zulkifli.

“If I am asked to withdraw I have to declare this officially to the court. So I will be there,” he said, adding that he does not consider his current problems to be of a personal nature.

It is understood that this will be the first time in a month that Zulkifli will meet Anwar and Wan Azizah face to face.

“This is not a personal matter, and I continue to be in contact with [Anwar], Wan Azizah and his family,” he said.

Zulkifli has informed Anwar that he will conduct himself as a professional in the qazaf suit which Anwar filed against his former personal assistant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Anwar’s other counsel is Kamar Aniah Kamaruzaman.

Zulkifli has been Anwar's lawyer since his first sodomy trial in 1998 and also stood on the party ticket to win the Kulim-Bandar Baharu seat in Election 2008.

The de facto PKR leader's qazaf or false accusation application against his sodomy accuser Saiful will resume after the Islamic Affairs Minister objected to the application.

Anwar’s Syarie lawyer Kamar Aniah had argued on Feb 17 that they did not have time to file the affidavit because the defence had filed the preliminary objections before Chinese New Year last week.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom, Federal Territory (FT) Syariah chief prosecutor Shamsuddin Hussain and FT Religious Department director Datuk Che Mat Che Ali filed the preliminary objections to strike out Anwar’s “qazaf” application against his former aide on Feb 9.

The parties also want Zulkifli to be excluded as his counsel because the Kulim Bandar Baharu MP may be called as a witness during the trial.

Anwar had filed an application for the court to order Shamsuddin, as the chief syarie prosecutor in the Federal Territory, to charge his former aide for making false accusations about committing intercourse with him.

Kamar questioned why the respondents had filed the preliminary objections and have not replied to the main application.

The court then ordered all parties to file in all the relevant affidavits before March 10