Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan succeeded in amending his statement of claim for defamation in the RM50 million lawsuit against Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

As reported by The Star, his lawyer Zamri Idrus said Judicial Commissioner Azizul Azmi Adnan allowed his client’s application to amend his statement with RM1,000 in costs.

Zamri said he was instructed to serve a copy of the amended claim on Anwar by Feb 6.

He said that Anwar has to file his amended statement of defence by Feb 23.

The court set March 13 for case management.

On January 16, Zamri told reporters that he (Saiful Bukhari) wanted to add more details regarding Anwar's alleged defamation accusation against him for his police report about being sodomised six years ago.

Anwar, 67, was charged under Section 377B of the Penal Code after the Court of Appeal on March 7 last year, found him guilty of having sodomised his now former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

The offence was allegedly committed at Unit 11-5-1, Kondominium Desa Damansara, Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.

The charge carries a jail term of up to 20 years and whipping, upon conviction.

In October 2014, the Federal Court heard Anwar’s appeal to set aside his conviction and jail term and reserved judgment on November 7.

Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria is leading a five-member panel comprising Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and Federal Court judges Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong, Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar and Datuk Ramly Ali.

Anwar is represented by a team of 14 lawyers led by Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, who is a former Federal Court judge himself.

The other 13 lawyers are Ramkarpal Singh Deo, Sangeet Kaur Deo, N. Surendran, R. Sivarasa, J. Leela, Latheefa Koya, Lim Choon Khim, Eric Paulsen, Michelle Yesudas, Shahid Adli Kamaruddin, Zaleha Al-Hayat, Jeremy Vinesh Anthony and Mohamed Aliff Bolkin.

A senior lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, is leading the prosecution team in the appeal. He is assisted by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria.