> High Court to hear Anwar's case transfer
The High Court here will hear on Nov 20 and 21 submissions from both parties in the prosecution's application for revision to quash the Sessions Court's decision not to allow Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy case to be transferred to the High Court.
Sessions Court judge S.M.Komathy Suppiah had ordered both parties to seek directions and orders from Justice Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah on the prosecution's applications for revision as well as a stay of execution of all the proceedings pending the decision of the High Court.
Komathy then adjourned the proceedings to a date to be fixed pending the High Court decision.
Anwar, 61, is charged with voluntarily committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature with a former aide, 23-year-old Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, at Unit 11-5-1, Desa Damansara Condominium, Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26.
Today was fixed for mention for the prosecution to submit to the defence certain documents such as the medical, chemist and police reports pertaining to the case.
However, senior deputy public prosecutor Datuk Mohamed Yusof Zainal Abiden, who is leading the prosecution team, informed the court that under Section 35(2) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, the High Court, upon calling for any record, all proceedings in the subordinate court in connection with the matter shall be stayed pending further order of the High Court.
Mohamed Yusof said it meant that all the documents needed by Anwar's defence could not be supplied pending the High Court orders or decision.
Anwar's counsel R.Sivarasa said, however, that Mohamed Yusof had given an undertaking to give the documents to the defence within a week.
Sivarasa, who replaced lead counsel Sulaiman Abdulah who was engaged in the Court of Appeal, said the prosecution had no basis for not giving the documents as they were in the prosecution's possession.
"The whole world would question what has happened to the documents," he said, asking whether they had been changed or tampered with or were missing.
At this juncture, Mohamed Yusof said that he, as the prosecutor, was really tired of Anwar's allegations that the prosecution had bias in conducting his case.
"I'm really tired of these allegations. I have all the documents with me today and I have no problem to give them to the defence," he said.
Later he asked the investigating officer to give the documents to the the defence by this evening.
Mohamed Yusof, who is head of the prosecution unit in the Attorney-General's Chambers, was assisted by deputy public prosecutors Datuk Nordin Hassan, Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, Wong Chiang Kiat, Farhan Read and Shamsul Sulaiman. Sivarasa was assisted by counsel Sankara N.Nair, Leela Jesuthasan, Edmund Bon, Saiful Idham Ramli, Amer Hamzah Arshad, Latheefa Koya and Mohd Radzlan Jalaludin.
On Nov 7, Komathy dismissed the prosecution's application for the case to be transferred to the High Court after ruling that the transfer certificate, signed by Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, was invalid.
Abdul Gani is still under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Agency following a police report lodged by Anwar on alleged falsification of evidence pertaining to the "black eye" incident involving Anwar when arrested by police in 1998.
The prosecution filed for a revision of the decision three days later on the ground, among others, that Abdul Gani was only carrying out an administrative function and not a judicial or quasi function when he signed the certificate as he was not judging any dispute between parties - Bernama.
This is the second time Justice Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah is hearing this case for transfer to a High Court. Why is the prosecution so adamant for a transfer? See the report on his first hearing here.
