Court orders Najib, Rosmah to testify: Anwar slams cops for harassing his alibi

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has successfully subpoenaed 7 witnesses, including Prime Minister Najib Razak, wife Rosmah Mansor and ex-Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan and Malacca police chief Mohd Rodhwan Ismail.

The group had refused to speak during a closed-door interview last week, forcing Anwar's lawyers to seek a court order on Friday for them to co-operate in the trial. If found guilty, Anwar stands to be jailed for up to 20 years.

“Refuse to be interviewed is different from being subpoenaed,” lead counsel for the defense Karpal Singh told reporters on Monday. He added that the court orders should have been served by now.

Earlier in his testimony, Anwar had lambasted controversial trial judge Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah for giving Najib, Rosmah and the two cops a "lifelife" by allowing them to escape being interviewed as potential witnesses for the defense.

"Y.A. (Your Honour), when making the order for the witnesses offered to the defence for interview in court, gave a lifeline to the witnesses in stating in open court that they could refuse to be interviewed. Y.A. did not in doing so evenly handle the scales of justice. Y.A. created and perpetuated an imbalance unbecoming anyone holding the mantle of justice," said Anwar from the dock.

"In fact, the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak, and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah binti Mansor, former Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan, and SAC Dato’ Rodhwan bin Ismail who featured prominently in the evidence of PW1 came to the interview room echoing similar protests namely, “We are not prepared to be interviewed” with the Prime Minister saying Y.A. suggested this could be done. These were material witnesses compelling the defence now to resort to causing subpoenas to be issued for their presence."

Plot hatched between the 5

Anwar's lead counsel Karpal told the court of their intention to summon the 7 after Anwar concluded his tesimony from the dock. Anwar had read out from his 32-page, reiterating that Najib and Rosmah were directly involved in hatching the plot with Saiful Bukhari Azlan, the sodomy compliant. Former Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan and Malacca police chief Rodhwan Ismail.

Najib, wife and the two cops had made a big show of going to the court complex last week to meet Anwar's lawyers. However, once there, they refused to cooperate with the defense team and did not reply or give any answers. They also refused to take ther witness stand unless yhere were subpoenaed.

The reluctance and lack of civic-mindedness shown especially from the first couple prompted allegations that they were guilty as charged by Anwar. In his statement, Anwar confirmed that Saiful had met with both husband and wife and not just Najib, two days before loging the police complaint that led to the current trial.

"The preparation entailed in this conspiracy was most elaborate and went all the way to the Prime Minister himself and his wife Rosmah Mansor both of whom by the complainant’s own admission had met him in their residence where he purportedly complained of being sexually assaulted. The initial statement by Najib that he had met with the complainant merely to discuss about a scholarship was a blatant lie only to be retracted later after various exposes were made via the social media and the internet blogs," said Anwar.

Alibi witness harassed

It was obvious that neither Najib nor Rosmah would not want to be seen to be part of the conspiracy being themselves embroiled in a series of other scandals the details of which have been raised in Parliament which to date have never been categorically refuted. But the stakes in this conspiracy are so high that nothing can be left to pure chance for indeed the prospect of the UMNO led Barisan Nasional losing power to Pakatan Rakyat is becoming more real by the day.

Anwar also slammed the police for harassing his alibi, Hasanuddin Abd Hamid, the owner of the condo unit where the alleged sodomy took place. Sources close to the PKR leader say special police operatives have been put to guard Hasanuddin around the clock to make sure that he could not be contacted by Anwar's lawyers. Even a maid who worked for him and was present at the alleged time the sodomy took place cannot be traced.

"My alibi witnesses made known to the prosecution were in fact included in the prosecution list of witnesses which was not supplied to my lawyers. They were defence alibi witnesses. I am informed this is the first time this has been done," said Anwar.

"In fact, the owner of the unit 11-5-2, Haji Hasanuddin bin Abd Hamid, had been harassed by the police for a total of thirty hours in the recording of his statements which were all video recorded. This was obvious when he was interviewed by the defence lawyers in my presence. The police investigation has scuttled my defence.

"To make a mockery of the situation, the prosecution offered at the close of their case an alibi witness named, Fitria binti Dipan, who by their own admission cannot be traced. - Malaysia Chronicle