PUTRAJAYA (March 5): A Court of Appeal judge today recused himself from hearing an appeal to set aside Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy conviction in 2015.

Justice Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said made the decision during a scheduled hearing of the case via Zoom this morning which was attended by lawyers Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram and Leela Jesuthasan who represented Anwar; senior federal counsel Suzana Atan who appeared on behalf of the government; and lawyer Harvinderjit Singh, representing Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

Shafee was the appointed public prosecutor during Anwar's second sodomy trials, and acted as the intervenor in this civil case.

"The judge didn't consider it appropriate for him to hear as he was a senior federal counsel at the time of the earlier criminal cases against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim," Leela told theedgemarkets.com following the hearing.

It is understood that prior to being appointed a judge, Kamaludin was previously attached to the Attorney-General's Chambers as the trials and appeals division head. 

Following his recusal, the matter has been sent for case management and the court has fixed June 29, 2021 as the next hearing date before a different panel, according to Leela.

Besides Kamaludin as the chair, the initial panel of judges consisted of Datuk Has Zanah Mehat and Datuk Wira Ahmad Nasfy Yasin.

On Nov 8, 2017, the High Court struck out the summons, and ordered Anwar to pay RM10,000 in costs to the government.

To recap, in his originating summons, Anwar claimed he did not get a fair trial in the appeal against his second sodomy conviction as he alleged that the then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had paid Shafee RM9.5 million to lead the prosecution team in the case at the Court of Appeal and Federal Court, following an exposé by web portal Sarawak Report.

It is worth noting that Shafee is in fact currently facing charges for the aforementioned RM9.5 million he allegedly received from Najib. In September 2018, Shafee claimed trial to four charges under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act at the Sessions Court, over the receipt of two deposits from Najib, totalling RM9.5 million, between August 2013 and January 2014.

He was also accused of making false declarations to the Inland Revenue Board for the same amount between March and June 2015.