Court rubbishes reports it rejected Anwar’s request for time extension

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PUTRAJAYA: News portal reports saying that the Federal Court had rejected Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s application for an extension of time to file a petition of appeal over his five-year jail sentence for sodomy is totally incorrect, as the court never heard the application.

Head of Corporate Communication and International Relations of the Federal Court, Aizuddin Mohd Zolkeply explained there was neither an application nor a hearing on the matter at the Federal Court yesterday.

“So, the reports which stated that the Federal Court had rejected a case of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is totally incorrect,” he told Bernama when contacted yesterday.

According to one of the news portal reports, the Federal Court had rejected Anwar’s application to file the petition of appeal, following the death of Anwar’s lead counsel, the late Karpal Singh.

Aizuddin said the registry of the Federal Court had received a letter dated April 22 from Messrs Karpal Singh & Company, seeking an extension of time to file the petition of appeal in the Federal Court as the deadline for filing was on April 24.

“Reasons given that YB Karpal Singh had died on April 17, and a second lawyer, who is his son, Ramkarpal Singh, is still mourning the death of his father,” he added.

He said the deputy registrar had informed Zaleha Al-Hayat, who was also Anwar’s counsel, through a phone call that the defence must include a notice of motion for extension of time application.

Aizuddin noted that any request for extension of time should be made ​by notice of motion and heard before a judge.

“A deputy registrar shall not grant any extension of time, only with permission through a letter. Furthermore, a deputy registrar does not have jurisdiction to hear any notice of motion or any application filed in the Federal Court as set out in the Federal Court Rules 1995,” he said.

On the extension of time, Aizuddin explained that the court had jurisdiction to grant leave after hearing the reasons argued by the applicant’s counsel.

He further said it was quite common that sometimes lawyers filed a notice of extension of time to file the petition of appeal on certain reasons and the court allowed the application. — Bernama