Alliff Benjamin Suhaimi informed Mahathir’s legal team yesterday that his firm, Thomas Philip, had recently been engaged by Anwar to act on this matter.

“We need to seek further instructions from our client,” he said.

Alliff added that fellow lawyer Gobind Singh Deo would act as Anwar’s lead counsel.

Meanwhile, Mahathir’s lawyer Rafique Rashid Ali said he had no objections to Thomas Philip’s request for more time to respond.

Last week, Mahathir demanded that Anwar apologise for statements he made during PKR’s congress.

At the congress, Anwar took a veiled jab at Mahathir, claiming the former prime minister, who served as prime minister for 22 years under Barisan Nasional and then another 22 months when Pakatan Harapan came into power in 2018, had enriched his family during his time in power.

On March 28, Mahathir announced that his lawyers had demanded that Anwar retract his statement within seven days.