Saiful-Farah 'affair': Court to decide on calling duo to testify

The Kuala Lumpur High Court has begun hearing, for the second time in Anwar Ibrahim's highly charged sodomy trial, an application from the defence to strike out the charge.

The defence team filed the application with a supporting affidavit on Aug 2 following an allegation that deputy public prosecutor Farah Azlina Latif and complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan had a 'romantic' relationship.

Anwar has claimed that the alleged affair as well as the sodomy charge - his second in 10 years - is an abuse of the court process.

After last week's proceedings, he lodged a police report, calling for investigations into the matter.

Attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, who has not categorically refuted the alleged affair, had on July 27 removed Farah from the prosecution team.

She was also transferred to another division within the attorney-general's chambers after the allegation surfaced.

The prosecution in its affidavit-in-reply haddenied knowledge of the affair and rejected claims that Farah and Saiful were privy to investigation papers.

Anwar's lead counsel Karpal Singh had on Friday said that the defence would apply to put both Saiful and Farah on the witness stand to answer the allegations as the prosecution's affidavit has failed to address the issue directly.

LIVE REPORTS

8.27am: Reporters allowed to enter courtroom along with the public. There are about 65 people in the public gallery.

8.44am: Solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden enters the courtroom along with his prosecution team - Noordin Hassan, Mohd Hanafiah Zakaria, CK Wong, Noorin Badaruddin and two junior DPPs.

8.51am: Anwar Ibrahim's lawyers Sankara Nair and Marissa Christopher Fernando arrive with the defence's Australian forensic specialist Dr David Wells.

They are followed by Anwar and his wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, along with two of their daugthers.

9.18am: Lead defence counsel Karpal Singh arrives in court with lawyer Ram Karpal.

9.33am: High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah enters the courtroom. Court called into session.

9.43am: Karpal applies for Farah and Saiful to take the stand so that the court can determine the truth in relation to their alleged affair.

"Never before in the history of the country or in the Commonwealth has a DPP had an affair with the star witness," he says.

Karpal says Justice Zabidin is dutybound to “elicit the truth to the allegation” as neither Saiful nor Farah have submitted an affidavit.

The senior lawyer says Saiful was willing to take an oath in the name of Allah on the alleged sodomy incident.

"But Saiful is not willing to come to the temple of justice, that is this court, to submit an affidavit."

9.58am: Mohd Yusof dimisses the Saiful-Farah matter as a “bare allegation”.

"The question at hand is whether Saiful had used Farah to get information,” he tells the court.

"We have here an affidavit from DPP Mohd Hanafiah Zakaria and investigating officer Supt Jude Blacious Pereira where they deny - based on their personal knowledge - that documents, meeting and information (were leaked)," he says.

Yusof says the defence had not replied to their affidavits and hence, this should be the end of the matter.

Karpal maintains that what Anwar said is true as he had received information on the matter from certain sources.

"This is no hearsay but an assertion of the fact that Farah was privy to such matters (from the prosecution)."

10.20am: The court will decide about 2.15pm on whether to allow the defence's application to call Farah and Saiful as witnesses.

Karpal argues that the duo must be called to the stand as it is “more than the affair which should be answered” in court.

“The integrity and the impartiality of the prosecution in this entire trial is in question," he says.

[More to follow]