KUALA LUMPUR: The sodomy trial of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim heard on Wednesday, May 12 that Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, who alleges that he was sodomised by Anwar, had made contact with several prominent figures — including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan — before lodging a police report against Anwar days later on June 28, 2008.

During cross-examination by Anwar's lead counsel Karpal Singh, Saiful reiterated that he met Najib at the latter's Taman Duta residence at about 8pm on June 24, 2008 to complain about his "problems".

According to Saiful, he was brought to the house by Najib's former special officer Khairil Anas Jusoh and met Najib, who was the then deputy prime minister, for about 20 minutes.

Saiful, who is the prosecution's first witness, told the court that Najib did not give him any advice on what to do and initially appeared "sceptical" when told about his "problem".

Questioned by Karpal, Saiful said he did not meet with Najib's wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, and only saw her as he was leaving.

To another question, Saiful said former national athlete Datuk Dr Mumtaz Jaafar was not at Najib's house during his visit. Mumtaz is believed to be a close associate of Rosmah, but Mumtaz's links to the case are yet to be made clear.

Saiful said he first met Khairil sometime in December 2007 or January 2008 to obtain a letter of support for an application for a Mara loan to pursue pilot training in Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

Saiful had earlier dropped out of his engineering course at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) after reportedly receiving poor grades due to his involvement in student council activities.

According to Saiful, shortly after he met with Najib, he had received a call from Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (SAC) II (then Assistant Commissioner of Police) Datuk Mohd Rodwan Mohd Yusof, and met the police officer in a room in Melia Hotel on June 24, 2008.

Saiful said Rodwan did not record any statement from him during the meeting and scheduled another meeting at Concorde Hotel the following day. But Rodwan cancelled the June 25 meeting ahead of time and both men did not meet again, Saiful told the court.

During cross-examination, Saiful also admitted to contacting Musa via telephone on the morning of June 25, 2008 to discuss "his problem".

Saiful's claim that he contacted the top cop prompted loud murmurs of disbelief in court when he maintained that he "had been severely wronged by Anwar".

"I wanted to tell him (Musa) that I had been sodomised several times inside and outside the country by Anwar — but less than a minute (of the conversation), he hung up and told me not to contact him again. Maybe he thought it was a prank call," Saiful said.

When asked, Saiful said he obtained Musa's telephone number when he was at Najib's house on June 24, 2008. Saiful, 24, claimed he had saved Musa's number in his mobile phone after overhearing the number when Najib apparently asked his aides for the number.

Saiful, who was Anwar's aide for several months in 2008, said he first confided in his uncle Tuah Mohd Halim about the alleged sodomy on June 26, 2008, the day the incident allegedly happened.

Saiful had lodged a police report and had a medical examination on June 28, 2008, accusing Anwar of sodomising him.

In his police report, Saiful claimed that June 26, 2008 was "the last time" he was sodomised by Anwar, but the charge and the trial is focusing on the alleged incident on June 26, 2008.

Karpal then asked the court to adjourn proceedings until Mumtaz and Senator Ezam Mohd Noor can be brought to court for Saiful to identify, prompting disagreement from Solicitor-General II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden who said that prosecutors needed some time to arrange for that.

According to Saiful, his friend Rahimi Osman had taken him to meet former PKR Youth chief Ezam around midnight between June 27, 2008 and June 28, 2008. Saiful said he, Rahimi, Tuah and Ezam met in Bandar Tasik Puteri, Rawang.

Saiful had earlier testified that he was roped into Anwar's office shortly before the general election in March 2008 by his close friend Rahimi, who was then working for the PKR adviser.

When proceedings resumed after lunch, Mumtaz and Khairil were produced in court for identification.

Proceedings will resume on Thursday with submissions on Anwar's application for a stay of the trial pending his appeal of the High Court's earlier decision not to grant him access to Saiful's witness statements.