STOP your lies, Utusan: Anwar was acquitted due to FABRICATED evidence, NOT technicality

I refer to the report in the Utusan Malaysia newspaper on 8 July 2012 that claimed that Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had been acqutted in the Fitnah II trial on a technicality.

Utusan Malaysia's claim is completely opposite and inconsistent with the reasons for acquittal given in Judge Zabidin Mohd Diah's written judgement. Judge Zabidin had concluded in his 80 page judgement that he could not convict Anwar Ibrahim on the uncorroborated evidence of the complainant Saiful.

What this means is that Saiful's evidence was simply not reliable enough to convict the opposition leader. As a matter of law, if the Judge had found Saiful's evidence reliable, he could have convicted Anwar Ibrahim without seeking for further corroborative evidence. In short, the Judge did not acquit on a technicality, but because he was not convinced that Anwar Ibrahim was guilty.

Police fabrication of evidence ignored

It is clear that the UMNO-owned Utusan Malaysia was motivated equally by ignorance of the Judge's reasoning and malice against Anwar in making the baseless claim that he was acquitted on a technicality.

Further, Utusan Malaysia deliberately ignored crucial findings by the Judge which showed that the police had tampered with the evidence. The judge found that the evidence plastic bag (P27) was cut open by the investigating officer and that the seals were not tamper-proof, which indicates fabrication of evidence against Anwar.

Who gave the orders for the investigating office to meddle with the evidence? The Judges findings now prove that the sodomy charges were a vicious political conspiracy against Anwar mounted by UMNO-BN with the compliance of the authorities.

N SURENDRAN IS VICE PRESIDENT OF PARTI KEADILAN RAKYAT