Sodomy II - Anwar fails in new bid to disqualify Shafee

Anwar Ibrahim has again failed in his bid to disqualify senior lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah as lead prosecutor in the appeal against the opposition leader's Sodomy II acquittal.

The decision was handed down today by Court of Appeal judge Aziah Ali, who sits on a three-member panel along with Justice Rohana Yusof and Justice Mohd Zawawi Salleh.

In delivering the unanimous decision, Justice Aziah said the statutory declaration (SD) by former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim, which was used as a premise for the application, could not be admitted as evidence.

“We are in agreement with the submission of Shafee (right) that the contents are hearsay evidence and Mat Zain was not available for cross-examination," she said.

The court also agreed with Shafee's argument that the SD was defective due to discrepancies in Mat Zain's personal details.

"The IC and address of the SD was blotted out. It is inconceivable why Mat Zain refused to disclose his details in the SD if he stands by his allegation.”

Justice Aziah added that Mat Zain had no problems disclosing his personal details in another defamation suit filed in Shah Alam.

"We are of the firm believe that the SD cannot be submitted as evidence," she said. 

On Nov 21, a five-member Court of Appeal panel led by Justice Md Raus Sharif dismissed Anwar's application to disqualify Shafee as lead prosecutor in the case.

Anwar's team had argued that the opposition leader would not get a fair trial because of to Shafee's reputation as a prominent lawyer for key figures in the government and the BN.

The team had argued that there was also conflict of interest as Shafee was representing Anwar's opponents in defamation suits accusing Anwar of homosexuality and a successful overturn of the Sodomy II acquittal will bolster those cases.

Shafee denies claim

Among the claims were that Shafee was aware of alleged wrongdoings of attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail in the case involving the Pulau Batu Puteh territorial dispute with Singapore as well as purported fabrication of evidence in the Sodomy I trial, but failed to report them.

Gani (left) had raised eyebrows last July when he broke the convention of appointing prosecutors from the Attorney-General’s Chambers by engaging Shafee, a senior lawyer in private practice who often appears for top BN politicians, for the Sodomy II appeal.

Shafee, in his affidavit, had denied claims that he boasted about knowing Gani's wrongdoings at a meeting that included Mat Zain, former Commercial Crimes Investigation Department chief Ramli Yusuff, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Mahathir's former political secretary Mathias Chang.

He had said that the meeting on Aug 10 was no more than to pay respects to Mahathir.

Following this, Mat Zain lodged a police report against Shafee, accusing him of filing a misleading affidavit.

"It is clear that Shafee’s statements (regarding the exact circumstances of the meeting with Mahathir) are a deliberate fabrication based on his own imagination to confuse or mislead...," Mat Zain had said in the police report.

Shafee, when responding in court yesterday, questioned the credibility of Mat Zain, whose SD was being used in this second attempt to disqualify him.

Describing Mat Zain as a "devious character", Shafee went on to claim that Mat Zain was a bankrupt and had used a false identity card number for the SD.

He also suggested that Mat Zain had conspired with Anwar by providing the opposition leader the premise to file the second application to disqualify him.

Met outside the courtroom after the decision was delivered, Anwar said his team would file an appeal with the Federal Court after obtaining the written judgment on Monday.

“I deserve to be treated more fairly, not just summarily dismissed,” said the PKR de facto leader, who was represented by Tommy Thomas.