Federal court reserves verdict on Anwar’s final appeal over sodomy conviction

0

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court here yesterday reserved judgment on the final appeal of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim against a sodomy conviction and five-year jail sentence.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim

Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria, chairing a five-man bench, said the panel needed more time to make a decision.

Arifin also extended Anwar’s bail of RM10,000, pending the Apex Court verdict. The hearing of the appeal had gone on for eight days, beginning Oct 28.

The other four judges on the panel were Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and Federal Court judges Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong, Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar and Datuk Ramly Ali.

The highest court in the country will make its ruling on whether to allow or dismiss Anwar’s appeal to set aside his conviction and jail sentence imposed by the Court of Appeal on March 7 this year, after it had overturned a High Court decision to acquit him.

If Anwar loses his appeal, he would be disqualified as the member of parliament (MP) for Permatang Pauh as per Article 48(1)(e) of the Federal Constitution, which states that an MP would be disqualified if he or she is sentenced to a jail term of more than a year, or fined more than RM2,000.

The prosecution had also filed a cross-appeal to enhance the jail sentence. However, the matter will only be heard if the Federal Court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal.

The hearing, which was initially set for two days from Oct 28, has been dragged for eight days as the defence and prosecution presented lengthy submissions and a lot of law cases were cited in the appeal.

Earlier, Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, a former Federal Court judge who is leading a team of 15 lawyers representing Anwar, had wraped up the defence submission.

The other lawyers are Ramkarpal Singh Deo, Sangeet Kaur Deo, Gobind Singh Deo, N. Surendran, R. Sivarasa, J. Leela, Latheefa Koya, Lim Choon Khim, Eric Paulsen, Michelle Yesudas, Shahid Adli Kamaruddin, Zaleha Al-Hayat, Jeremy Vinesh Anthony and Mohamed Aliff Bolkin.

A senior lawyer, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, is leading the prosecution team in the appeal. He is assisted by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria.

In the appeal, Anwar, 67, is seeking the apex court to set aside the conviction and sentence imposed by the Court of Appeal on March 7 this year after it had overturned a High Court decision to acquit him.

The Court of Appeal had found Anwar guilty of having sodomised his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 27, at Unit 11-5-1 of the Desa Damansara Condominium in Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara, between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.

The charge under Section 377B of the Penal Code carries a jail sentence of up to 20 years and whipping, upon conviction.

The defence is seeking to free the opposition leader from the sodomy conviction while the prosecution wants the court to dismiss Anwar’s appeal to overturn his conviction and jail term.

On Jan 9, 2012, the High Court acquitted and discharged Anwar of having sodomised Mohd Saiful on the grounds that the court could not be 100 per cent certain on the integrity of samples taken for DNA testing from the alleged victim.

The court had ruled that the samples could have been compromised before they reached the Chemistry Department for analysis.

However, the Court of Appeal, in convicting Anwar on the sodomy charge, held that the trial judge had erred in his findings about the samples which were based on the evidence of two expert witnesses called by the defence.

This is the second sodomy case against Anwar.

In the first case, he was found guilty of having sodomised his family’s driver, Azizan Abu Bakar at Tivoli Villa here in 1994, and was sentenced to nine years’ jail by the High Court on Aug 8, 2000.

The High Court had ordered Anwar to serve the sentence after the completion of his six-year jail term for corruption. He was found guilty on four charges of corruption on April 4, 1999.

However, after spending nearly six years in jail for corruption, Anwar was released on Sept 2, 2004 as the Federal Court, led by Justice Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad who went on to become the chief justice, overturned his conviction and set aside the jail sentence on the charge of having sodomised Azizan, in a 2-1 majority decision.

Abdul Hamid and Judge Tengku Baharudin Shah Tengku Mahmud ruled in Anwar’s favour while Judge Datin Paduka Rahman Hussein dissented. However, Abdul Hamid, who wrote the majority judgment, said the judges found that Anwar and co-accused Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja “were involved in homosexual activities” and that the judges were inclined to believe that the alleged sodomy did take place.

Meanwhile, supporters of Anwar, who is also PKR adviser, and Mohd Saiful Bukhari’s supporters had earlier gathered outside the Palace of Justice.

Anwar was seen walking with his supporters to the Palace of Justice from the nearby mosque after performing Friday prayers.

When he reached the building at 2.15pm, Anwar entered it while his supporters waited outside, on the right side of the building.

Mohd Saiful’s supporters were gathered on the left side of the Palace of Justice, which was closely guarded by the police. — Bernama