KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has dismissed opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s leave application for judicial review over a written statement signed by a deputy public prosecutor (DPP) for his upcoming sodomy trial.
High Court (Appellate and Special Powers) judge Datuk Aziah Ali in her decision ruled that the application was frivolous and vexatious and an abuse of the court process.
Aziah dismissed the application with costs.
Aziah said she agreed with Senior Federal Counsel Datin Azizah Nawawi’s submission that it was an abuse of the court process to seek the aid of the civil court to review the written statement and to direct the first respondent (DPP Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria) to issue a new written statement.
“The civil court has no jurisdiction to review any action of the Public Prosecutor undertaken in the discharge of his obligations under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC),” added Aziah.
She said to allow Anwar’s application would mean the civil court interfering with the jurisdiction of the criminal court. On Aug 3, 2009, Anwar had filed a judicial review application, naming Hanafiah, the prosecution and government as the respondents.
Hanafiah had issued a written statement under section 51A(1)(c) of the Criminal Procedure code to Anwar indicating that there was no facts favourable to the defence in his sodomy trial.
The statement was served on Anwar on June 24, 2009. Anwar was seeking for a declaration that the written statement signed by Mohamad Hanafiah that there was no favourable facts to be supplied to the defence, to be null and void.
He had also wanted the prosecution to supply him a written statement of facts favourable to the defence as well as an injunction to prohibit Hanafiah and the prosecution from proceeding with the case until this was done.
Besides these, Anwar had also sought aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages.
Aziah in her 15-page judgement also had stated that remedy could be sought before the criminal court during the trial process.
“The final decision whether or not there are facts favourable to the applicant or whether the two medical reports (regarding the case) are favourable to the applicant will be made by the trial judge.
“The applicant’s right to a fair trial has not been adversely affected by the written statement,” stressed Aziah.
Azizah appeared for the respondents while lawyer Edmund Bon represented Anwar.
Edmund later told reporters that he would need to refer to Anwar whether to appeal the decision. — Bernama