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Saturday July 18, 2009

Another wait for Anwar

By M. MAGESWARI


KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will have to wait a while before he can have access to certain documents and exhibits to prepare his defence at his sodomy trial.

Yesterday, the prosecution filed an appeal against the recent decision by High Court Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah ordering the prosecution to comply with Anwar’s request within a week.

Solicitor-General I Datuk Idrus Harun signed the consent to appeal, the notice of which was filed at the High Court criminal registry at 3.45pm yesterday.

The prosecution is expected to file a stay of application against the court order on Monday.

In an immediate response, Anwar’s lawyer S.N. Nair said he would file a cross-appeal.

Nair said he was just served a copy of the notice at 5.30pm by fax and would need time to file the appropriate papers over the matter.

On Thursday, Justice Mohamad Zabidin ordered the prosecution to supply Anwar’s counsel with a copy of the CCTV recordings taken from the guardhouse and lifts of the Desa Damansara Con-dominium over three days from June 25, last year.

He also ordered the prosecution to supply Anwar’s legal team a copy of its witness list and all the documents that would be tendered in court as evidence.

The prosecution must also hand over a statement of facts which was favourable to Anwar, if available.

However, Justice Mohamad Zabidin disallowed an applica-tion by the defence team to inspect the original samples taken from his former personal aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, saying the evidence had been sealed by the chemist and that any disturbance would affect its authen- ticity.

On March 10, Anwar pleaded not guilty to sodomising Mohd Saiful, 24, at the condominium in Bukit Damansara between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26, last year.

Mohd Saiful, of Damansara, had lodged a complaint on June 28 over the alleged incident.

Justice Mohamad Zabidin set July 24 for mention of the sodomy trial and an application by Anwar to strike out the charge.

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