KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — The High Court today dismissed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s attempt to refer eight legal questions—including whether a sitting Prime Minister enjoys immunity from lawsuits—to the Federal Court, ruling that no real constitutional issues were raised.
The questions stem from a civil suit filed by Anwar’s former aide, Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, over an alleged sexual assault incident dating back seven years. Judge Roz Mawar Rozain held that the Federal Constitution provisions cited—Articles 39, 40, and 43—relate to the structure of executive power and do not provide personal immunity to a Prime Minister.
She emphasized that constitutional silence on such immunity must be interpreted in favour of equal legal accountability. The proposed questions, she ruled, were speculative and unnecessary for resolving the present case, and thus did not meet the threshold for referral under Article 128(2) of the Constitution or Section 84 of the Courts of Judicature Act.
