Thursday July 2, 2009
Court to rule on Anwar’s appeal today
PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will know today the outcome of his appeal against a transfer order to move his sodomy trial from the Sessions Court to the High Court.
Court of Appeal Justice Abdull Hamid Embong, who sat with Justices Abu Samah Nordin and Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha, fixed 3pm to deliver their ruling after hearing submissions from both parties yesterday.
Earlier, Anwar’s lead counsel Sulaiman Abdullah urged the court to set aside the High Court’s decision to transfer his client’s case on grounds that the transfer certificate was signed by Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, who should be disqualified from the case.
He said Abdul Gani should not take part in Anwar’s second sodomy trial due to allegations that he (Abdul Gani) and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan had tampered with evidence in Anwar’s “black eye incident” 11 years ago.
“The Sessions Court judge did what the law required her to do, and had exercised her judgment fairly after considering all these. The High Court judge, on the other hand, took a narrow view of the law, and decided not to interfere with the Public Prosecutor’s decision to transfer the case,” he said.
On March 10, Sessions Court judge Rozana Ali Yusoff transferred to the High Court Anwar’s trial on charges of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 24, at a condominium in Bukit Damansara on June 26 last year.
The case had originated in the Sessions Court before judge S.M. Komathy Suppiah last year but Abdul Gani later signed a certificate to transfer the case to the High Court. On Nov 7, Komathy ruled that the transfer certificate was invalid.
However, in an appeal on March 5, High Court Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah ruled that the Sessions Court judge had erred, and ordered the case to be moved.
Solicitor-General II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden submitted that the High Court judge was right in ruling that the Sessions Court had no right entertaining Anwar’s application that the A-G’s certificate was not valid.
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