Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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(Nov 16): A retired senior policeman's statement that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was victim of a political conspiracy must be admitted in the interest of justice, the Federal Court was told today in its hearing of a review of the jailed opposition leader's second sodomy conviction.

Lawyer Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram said the statement by former Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Ramli Yusuff was relevant, more so as it was only obtained after his client had been convicted.

"Ramli's witness statement must be produced as evidence and its credibility must be tested in court in the interest of justice," he told the bench, chaired by Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin who today deferred decision on the matter.

Anwar on June 10 filed an application to have Ramli testify before the sodomy review hearing to prove there was a political conspiracy against him.

The date for the review hearing has yet to be fixed. Anwar began his current five-year jail sentence on February 10 after the Federal Court upheld his conviction of having sodomised former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in 2008.

Anwar wanted the apex court to call Ramli as a witness as Ramli's testimony in lawyer Rosli Dahlan's suit against 17 defendants touched on a conspiracy in the "black eye" incident during investigations into Anwar's first sodomy case in 1998.

The defence contended that all the main characters in Sodomy I were also key players in Sodomy II, lending credence to Anwar's argument of a political conspiracy against him.

Anwar in his application said Ramli, in a sworn statement dated May 27, had "strongly supported the conclusion that he is a victim of political conspiracy and false declarations".

Ramli had allegedly said former attorney-generals Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah (1994-2001), Tan Sri Gani Patail (2002-2015) and former police chief Tan Sri Musa Hassan had conspired in Anwar's black eye incident in 1998, in which Anwar was attacked by then inspector-general of police Tan Sri Rahim Noor.

In 1998, Gani was a senior deputy public prosecutor and Musa, the investigation officer in first sodomy case.

The defence said Gani, Musa and Senior Assistant Commissioner (SAC) II Mohd Rodwan Mohd Yusof had conspired in the second sodomy case to have Anwar convicted.

Rodwan, who was involved in the first sodomy case, had met Saiful, the victim in the second sodomy case, in a Concorde Hotel room in Kuala Lumpur prior to the alleged incident in June 2008.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria today told the bench that Gani never had a role in prosecuting Anwar in the second sodomy case.

"Even former deputy prime minister Tun Abdullah Badawi had given undertaking that Gani would not be involved because of the first sodomy case," he said.

Hanafiah said this was the reason Gani had not filed an affidavit to respond to Anwar's allegation, and that it was other DPPs including him who decided on Anwar's prosecution.

He said the defence had also failed to put forth a cogent argument on why Ramli's evidence should be admitted in the review application.

In Anwar's second sodomy conviction, his legal team said the Federal Court judges had erred in not re-examining the story told by Saiful against other circumstances and the probabilities of the case. – The Malaysian Insider

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