Judge recuses self from Anwar's appeal related to sodomy case

 

A Court of Appeal judge has recused himself from an appeal over opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's suit linked to his Sodomy 2 case.

Kamaludin Md Said (photo, above) decided to remove himself from the three-person Court of Appeal bench hearing Anwar's appeal.

This is not the first time that Kamaludin chose to recuse himself from a legal matter involving Anwar, with the judge choosing to remove himself from the PKR president's legal action involving the Pardons Board in July 2017.

Prior to being a judge, Kamaludin had acted for the government as a senior counsel in one of Anwar's suits in 2010.

The Court of Appeal was initially set to hear Anwar's appeal in his lawsuit against the government concerning his Sodomy 2 case today.

The Sodomy 2 case involved Anwar's former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

The Port Dickson MP claimed in his suit that he was denied a fair trial during the Sodomy 2 case.

During proceedings before the Court of Appeal today conducted online via zoom, Anwar's lead counsel Gopal Sri Ram drew the bench's attention to the fact that Kamaludin had appeared before on the opposing side in Anwar's past legal matter.

The judge then remarked that it is only appropriate for him to recuse himself from today's matter due to his previous involvement in Anwar's legal matters.

Senior federal counsel Suzana Atan, who appeared for the government today, said they leave it for the court to decide whether Kamaludin needed to recuse himself.

"We leave it to the court. Your Honour (Yang Arif Kamaludin) was involved in many cases involving Anwar," she said.

Counsel Harvinderjit Singh, who appeared for lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah (an intervener in Anwar's appeal), said they would also leave it to the court to decide on the issue.

"Then, I will recuse myself from hearing this case," Kamaludin said. The other two members of today's Court of Appeal panel are Has Zanah Mehat and Ahmad Nasfy Yasin.

Anwar Ibrahim

The bench then vacated today's scheduled hearing of Anwar's appeal and fixed later today for further case management to determine a new judge to replace Kamaludin on the panel.

Anwar is appealing against an earlier decision by the Kuala Lumpur High Court to dismiss the lawsuit against the government.

Via an originating summons filed on June 9, 2017, Anwar seeks a declaration that his conviction by the Court of Appeal on March 7, 2014, contravened the Federal Constitution and thus was null and void.

He also wanted to nullify the Federal Court's decision which upheld his conviction.

Through an affidavit, Anwar claimed Shafee received RM9.5 million from former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak to lead the prosecution team in the appeal over his sodomy conviction.

Anwar's guilty verdict and five years' jail term for sodomising Saiful was upheld by the Federal Court.

Anwar, however, was given a full pardon by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on May 16, 2018.

His originating summons was struck out by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Nov 8, 2017, on the grounds that the case did not have any cause of action and amounted to an abuse of the court process.

Anwar is appealing to reinstate his suit.

The Court of Appeal later is also set to hear a related bid by Shafee to quash the affidavit containing the allegation that the lawyer received the RM9.5 million.

The affidavit, filed by former attorney-general's special task officer Siti Rahayu Mohd Mumazani, claimed that RM9.5 million was paid to Shafee from Najib's bank accounts between 2013 and 2014.

Najib at present faces four counts of abusing his position as then prime minister to obtain gratification totalling RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds and 21 counts of money laundering involving the same funds. - Mkini