‘DPM has no business in appeal matter’

Anwar's lawyer says Muhyiddin Yassin's statement is an admission of government interference in the affairs of the Attorney-General.

PETALING JAYA: Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has been accused of making an admission that the government has a tendency to interfere with the judiciary and that the Attorney-General was not independent.

Lawyer for Anwar Ibrahim in his Sodomy II trial, Sankara Nair, said this in response to Muhyiddin’s statement yesterday saying that the government will not interfere in any move to appeal the verdict.

“I feel his statement is, ipso facto, an admission that government has a tendency to interfere in the affairs of the Attorney-General,” Sankara said in a statement today.

The Latin term, ipso facto, directly translated, means: by the fact itself or as an inevitable result.

Muhyiddin reportedly said yesterday the government will not interfere in Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s father’s request to the Attorney-General to appeal the decision of the High Court in acquitting Anwar of the sodomy charge.

He said it was up to the prosecution team to decide on the matter.

“(The response from) Saiful’s father is a normal reaction of a parent. Those of us in the executive branch should not have to say anything more, apart from saying it is the prosecution’s decision,” Muhyiddin said.

Said Sankara: “The deputy prime minister has no business to allude to this matter of an appeal in the first place as it is not within his jurisdiction.”

He added that Muhyiddin’s statement raises grave suspicion over the Attorney-General Chambers’ independence as enshrined under Article 145 of the Federal Constitution .

“Why come up with a statement with such implications if there has been no previous meddling by the ruling government such as in Sodomy I and II?”

“Let law and justice prevail and not politics,” Sankara said.

Saiful’s father Azlan Mohd Lazim on Wednesday urged the prosecution to appeal the case. On Monday, the High Court acquitted and discharged Anwar of the charge of sodomising Saiful due to lack of evidence.

Solicitor-General II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden had said he would act on Azlan’s request and recommend a review of the verdict.

He was the lead prosecutor in the high-profile two-year trial.