The latest revelation by top blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin that one of the Federal Counsel in the prosecuting team was having an affair with sodomy complainant Saiful Bukhari Azlan only adds to the lack of credibility and integrity surrounding the trial against Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.
“If true, it makes a laughing stock of our judiciary system and shows how little respect for form and ethics our prosecutors have,” PAS legal advisor Hanipa Maidin told Malaysia Chronicle.
“Technically, there is nothing illegal for the lady to have a sexual relationship with Saiful, but ethically, there is a serious conflict of interest. Just like a doctor having sex with his patient or a teacher with a student.”
Who she bonks is her business, but ...
Indeed, legal pundits were shocked by RPK’s bombshell. While none of them believed the incident would make the Attorney-General drop the case against Anwar, they reiterated that based on the glaring lack of evidence produced so far, the case should have already been dropped on that basis alone.
Anwar was accused of sodomizing Saiful just as he was about to contest the Permatang Pauh by-election, which was held in August 2008. He won by a landslide despite the attempts to smear his name. Anwar has accused Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor of having schemed and fabricated the case so as to derail his political comeback.
“It doesn’t require this new development for us all to know that something is not right about the whole case. It smells and everybody knows it. It is a clear cut example of political persecution,” Hanipa said.
On Thursday, RPK also questioned whether it was proper for the lady to remain on the prosecution team.
“Who she bonks is her business. But since Saiful Bukhari is the man who is going to testify against Anwar, then this would be conflict of interest of the first degree,” wrote RPK in his Malaysia Today blog.
“Have you ever heard of any other case anywhere else in the world where one of the prosecutors in bonking the key witness in what can be considered the most important trial in Malaysian political history?”
If true, it would be zina
Meanwhile, according to Malaysian Insider Solicitor-General 2 Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden said a decision whether to drop her or not would only be made on August 2, when the trial resumes. However, he took pains to point out that she was never really a part of his team.
“To begin with, she was not in my team. She is not a permanent member of the team… she was only brought in to help with taking notes, compiling data, evidence,” he said.
Mohd Yusof also suggested that Raja Petra was lying. “Can you trust Raja Petra in the first place? He’s always spreading rumors,” he said.
But Mohd Yusof may have been banking on both Saiful and the lady denying the accusations. Both are Muslims and adultery or zina is punishable under Syariah law.
RPK – one of the country’s most respected political writers - has seldom been wrong. His contacts are impeccable and in this particular instance, he named the lady - which he is unlikely to have done unless he was sure and had evidence to support his claims.
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