Raja Aziz leads Anwar’s defence team

(Bernama) – After representing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his corruption case in 1998, counsel Raja Aziz Addruse has once again been appointed by Anwar to lead the defence team in his second sodomy trial.

Raja Aziz, who was a former Bar Council president, would replace prominent lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah, who had excused himself due to health reasons on July 15.

Solicitor for Anwar, SN Nair said in a statement today that Raja Aziz, in the new legal team, would be assisted by Datuk Param Cumaraswamy, Karpal Singh, Datuk CV Prabakharan and himself (Nair).

"In making this announcement, our client, his wife and his family would like to express their deepest and most sincere gratitude to Sulaiman for having rendered exemplary services to our client and would like to wish him all the best," Nair said.

In the previous legal team, Sulaiman had been assisted by Nair, Leela Jesuthasan, Edmund Bon, Saiful Idham Ramli, Amer Hamzah Arshad, Latheefa Koya and Mohd Radzlan Jalaludin.

Anwar, 62, is accused of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 24, at a condominium in Bukit Damansara here on June 26, last year.

The Criminal High Court has set Sept 2 for mention of the sodomy case. The court had initially set July 1 for the hearing but postponed it to facilitate the applications filed by Anwar.