By M. MAGESWARI
KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has applied to the High Court here to strike out his sodomy charge.
The PKR adviser is also seeking for a court order to stay his sodomy trial which was set to begin on July 1.
Anwar’s lawyer Sankara N. Nair said the application was made on the basis that the entire charge was “a travesty, a complete farce and has absolutely no basis.”
“There is no case against my client. We maintain that this whole exercise of charging our client is a political conspiracy,” he told reporters at the Jalan Duta court complex here on Wednesday.
Sankara filed a notice of motion and a supporting affidavit affirmed by Anwar at 4:30pm at the High Court criminal registry Wednesday.
On March 10, Anwar had pleaded not guilty to sodomising his former personal aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 24, at a condominium in Bukit Damansara here on June 26, last year.
So far, Sankara said he had only received several documents from a senior investigating officer at 4pm on Tuesday for the preparation of his client’s defence.
The documents, he said, were CCTV recordings, a chart on DNA testing of Saiful, a chemist report, a medical examination report and Anwar’s witness statement.
Sankara said there were other outstanding reports which were not supplied to them until Wednesday.
These included the statements by prosecution witnesses, all medical notes by Kuala Lumpur Hospital doctors who had examined Saiful, photographs related to Saiful’s physical examination and video recordings of Saiful when he gave his statement to the police.
Sankara said he had sent letters dated Jan 19, March 5 and April 29 respectively to the authorities requesting the outstanding documents be supplied to him for the preparation of the case but to no avail.
In the notice of motion filed on Wednesday, Anwar asked the court to hear his application on an urgent basis.
Anwar, who named the Public Prosecutor as respondent, is seeking to get a court order to immediately quash his sodomy charge.
He is applying to the court to order for his acquittal and a discharge, and is seeking a stay of the sodomy trial pending the disposal of the application.
He is also asking for further relief deemed fit by the court.
In his supporting afidavit affirmed on June 17, Anwar said his sodomy charge and the prosecution against him was mala fide (bad intent), tantamount to oppression and an abuse of the court process.
Anwar contended that the sodomy charge against him was a political conspiracy and was in bad faith.
He claimed that the prosecution still intended to continue to prosecute him although there was substantial evidence from experts which reject the sodomy incident.
Anwar, 62, had on June 10 filed an application at the High Court to order the prosecution to provide him with all related documents pertaining to his sodomy case as soon as possible.
This application is set for hearing next Monday before High Court judge Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah.
Source: StarOnline
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