CJ: Anwar appeal decision soon

Federal Court notice of sodomy case decision to be sent to lawyers.

PUTRAJAYA: Lawyers in the Anwar Ibrahim sodomy case appeal will be notified soon by the Federal Court of the date of the decision, the Chief Justice, Tun Arifin Zakaria, said today.

But he could not indicate when the notice would be issued.

“We will issue the notice two weeks ahead (of the decision date) — not two weeks from today. That is the best I can tell you,” Arifin told reporters after the legal profession’s ceremony for the formal opening of the 2015 legal year.

Asked if the notice would be issued before the Chinese New Year, he declined to comment. But he said the court was still within the three months standard practice timeline to complete judgement.

In November the Federal Court reserved its decision in the appeal by Anwar after hearing submissions from the prosecution and defence for a week.

Arifin had chaired a five-man bench along with Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and Federal Court judges Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong, Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar and Datuk Ramly Ali in hearing the appeal.

The prosecution had also filed a cross-appeal to enhance Anwar’s jail sentence. However, the matter will only be heard if the Federal Court upholds the decision of the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal had found Anwar, 67, guilty of having sodomised Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 27, at Unit 11-5-1 of Desa Damansara Condominium in Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.

On Jan 9, 2012, the High Court acquitted and discharged Anwar of the charge on the grounds that the court could not be 100 per cent certain on the integrity of samples taken for DNA testing from the alleged victim.

The court had ruled that the samples could have been compromised before they reached the Chemistry Department for analysis.

However, the Court of Appeal in convicting Anwar on the sodomy charge, held that the trial judge had erred in his findings about the samples which were based on the evidence of two expert witnesses called by the defence.

– BERNAMA