Anwar applies to strike out summons over full pardon for sodomy conviction

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has filed an application to strike out a summons filed by lawyer Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz over the full pardon granted to him in connection with his conviction and imprisonment for sodomising an aide.

Anwar’s lawyer, lawyer, J Leela , informed this to reporters after the case management, via e-review, today which was held before High Court deputy registrar Rumaizah Baharom, who then set Aug 14 to hear the application.

She said Anwar, who is Port Dickson member of Parliament, filed the application on May 13, among others, on the grounds that Khairul Azam had no locus standi to file the summons and that it was frivolous, an embarrassment and an abuse of the court process.

It will be heard before judge Nik Hasmat Nik Mohamad, she added.

Mohd Khairul Azam, through the legal firm, Raja Riza & Associates, named the Pardons Board and Anwar, as the first and second defendants respectively, in his summons filed on Feb 26 this year.

Leela said she was also informed that senior federal counsel Natra Idris, representing the Pardons Board, would also be filing a similar application.

According to his statement of claim, Mohd Khairul Azam said that on Feb 10, 2015, the Federal Court had upheld the conviction and five-year imprisonment imposed by the Court of Appeal against the Port Dickson MP for sodomising his former personal aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

However, he claimed that on May 9, 2018, after the 14th General Election and the formation of a new government, several wrongful and unconstitutional actions were taken to obtain a pardon for Anwar and get him released from prison.

He claimed that two days after the formation of the new government, then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, at a media conference on May 11, 2018, announced that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had consented to a full pardon for Anwar.

Mohd Khairul Azam is claiming that the pardon granted to Anwar was in contravention with Articles 42 (4) and (5) of the Federal Constitution in view of the fact that pardons granted by the Agong should be with the advice of the Pardons Board, which was then not formally formed yet.

- Bernama