The TV station had claimed in a report that Anwar was involved in the Lahad Datu intrusion in 2013, in reference to the incident in which armed men from the Philippines landed near the Sabah east coast town to lay claim to the state for the former Sulu sultanate.
High Court judge Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim said the plaintiff had proven his case against TV3 on the balance of probability.
“The defendant failed to practise responsible journalism and there was malice in its report,” he said.
Anwar, who is serving a jail term for sodomy, was awarded RM600,000 in general damages, and RM250,000 each for exemplary and aggravated damages.
He was further awarded RM40,000 in costs.
The judge said TV3 editor Kamaruddin Mape, who wrote the script, did not practise responsible journalism as he did not verify the article’s validity with Anwar.
Ahmad Zaidi said implicating Anwar as the “mastermind” behind the Lahad Datu intrusion was malicious.
He said the court awarded aggravated damages to Anwar because the defendant was adamant to go for trial despite publisher Utusan Melayu Sdn Bhd deciding to settle the matter out of court over the same report.
Anwar had filed the RM100 million lawsuit against Utusan Malaysia and TV3 in March 2013.
He settled the case against Utusan and its editor, Abdul Aziz Ishak, in October 2016, with the Malay language daily paying RM50,000 as part of the settlement agreement.
His case against TV3 and its two editors proceeded as both sides could not reach a settlement.
Utusan published the Lahad Datu article in its March 2, 2013 edition and TV3 republished the article for its Bulletin Utama news programme on the same night.
Lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan appeared for Anwar while counsel Liew Teck Huat represented TV3.