KUALA LUMPUR, 16 July 2009: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim succeeded in his bid to obtain documents and evidence on his sodomy case at the High Court here today but failed to get a sample of the specimen taken from the complainant, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
Justice Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, in allowing Anwar’s application to get a court order to force the prosecution to provide the documents and case evidence, ordered the prosecution to provide the items within seven days.
Mohamad Zabidin, however, dismissed Anwar’s application to obtain the specimen sample taken from Mohd Saiful as well as several other samples. He said this was because such samples had been sealed by the chemists.
He said the defence could study the samples after they were presented to court as case evidence.
“The sworn statement from investigation officer Jude Pereira shows that all the samples are now in their respective packages. As such, any disturbance by anyone on the seal before the packages are presented to court could disturb the identity and network of statements concerning the case evidence,” he said.
Following the decision, Solicitor-General II Datuk Mohamed Yusof Zainal Abiden informed the court that the prosecution would file an application, at the earliest tomorrow, to temporarily postpone the decision made today.
Among the documents allowed are the recorded witnesses’ statements from complainant Mohd Saiful, Dr Osman Abdul Hamid from Pusrawi Hospital, condominium owner Hassanuddin Abdul Hamid and three other witnesses.
The other items were the tapes of the CCTV recording from the guardhouse at Desa Damansara Condominium in Bukit Damansara, and at the lift access area in Block 11 of the condominium from 25 to 27 June 2008.
If a clear copy could not be provided, the defence is allowed to view the original recording under the supervision of the investigation officer.
Other documents include the slides taken during the tests on specimen samples from Mohd Saiful as well as the chemists’ analyses notes on the samples.
Mohamad Zabidin said the defence could apply to study the samples after they were presented in court as case evidence.
In his judgment, he said the court allowed Anwar’s application under Section 51A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) so that the prosecution process would be more open and fair.
The court then fixed 24 July for re-mention of Anwar’s application to quash the sodomy charge and for re-mention of the hearing on the sodomy case.
Anwar, 62, is charged with sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful, 24, at a condominium in Bukit Damansara, on 26 June 2008.
At the outset, Anwar’s counsel Edmund Bon said that under the new Section 51A of the CPC, the court had the power to order the prosecution to provide all the documents requested by the defence before the trial commenced.
Bon said under the new section, the court should order the prosecution to supply the documents or materials which were related to the evidence which the prosecution intended to produce in court. He said this was to enable the accused to prepare the defence.
“Since the prosecution has only supplied several documents, we are here to seek the court’s help over the document dispute,” he said.
Before the hearing started, Mohd Zabidin granted counsel R Sivarasa’s application to disallow investigation officer Pereira from being in court as he was the key witness in Anwar’s second sodomy case. — Bernama
Nicholas Aw says
The name ‘Anwar Ibrahim’ is synonymous with sodomy. In reality, the BN government is concerned about Anwar being the catalyst behind the formation of Pakatan Rakyat. I am of the opinion that Anwar’s sodomy trial is not the primary concern. Even if Anwar were to be acquitted, sooner or later there will appear another trumped-up charge. This is perhaps a psychological warfare to ‘brainwash’ pro-PR supporters into thinking that Anwar is not of good character and thus is not fit to be what he is today.
Anwar can be certain that the sodomy charge is not going to be the last against him. Every nook and corner will be turned inside out to finish him off.
The BN government knows that it is racing against time and if something is not done to contain Anwar, he may be the cause of BN’s downfall in the next general elections.