PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has fixed Feb 15 for case management of the prosecution’s appeal against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal on a charge of sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
Court of Appeal deputy registrar N Kanageswari set the date for another case management after the matter came up before her for case management in chambers today.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Najib Zakaria appeared for the prosecution while Anwar was represented by Ram Karpal Singh.
Ram Karpal told reporters that both the prosecution and defence needed more time to go through and verify the notes of evidence which were in compact discs (CDs). He said, there were about 22 volumes of CDs which were ‘very bulky and technical’.
Ram Karpal said, both sides had not finished verifying the notes of evidence, so the court gave them time to sort them
out, adding that the process was time-consuming.
On Jan 9, this year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court acquitted and discharged Anwar of sodomising Mohd Saiful, 26, at a Desa Damansara condominium unit in Bukit Damansara here, between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.
Anwar, 65, was charged under Section 377B of the Penal Code, which carries a jail sentence of up to 20 years and whipping, upon conviction.
The prosecution subsequently, filed on Jan 20, this year, a notice of appeal against the opposition leader’s acquittal from the sodomy charge.
On July 9, this year, the prosecution filed its petition of appeal which contained nine grounds. The 80-page written judgment by High Court judge Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah revealed, there was penile penetration but it was uncorroborated by other evidence.
He said the court could not be 100 per cent certain on the integrity of samples taken for DNA testing from Mohd Saiful as the samples could have been compromised before they reached the chemistry department for analysis. — Bernama