Sodomy II trial: ‘Saiful-DPP affair’ tops agenda
(Free Malaysia Today) – The prosecution and defence teams are expected to lock horns over the star witness when Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial resumes tomorrow.
The defence wants Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan to be recalled to the stand to answer the allegation of his sexual relationship with deputy public prosecutor Farah Azlina Latif.
FMT learnt that the defence team had written to Solicitor-General II Mohamed Yusof last week asking that Saiful be called in again. However, there has been no response.
A source said if the court agreed to recall Saiful, then Farah would also be summoned to be identified by the former.
When approached for confirmation, lead counsel Karpal Singh declined to reveal the details, saying it would not be proper to disclose the defence’s strategy at this stage.
However, he stressed that the Saiful-Farah episode had tarnished the prosecution’s integrity.
“In fact for Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail to come up with a statement on this issue shows something,” he said.
In an unprecedented move, Gani issued a press statement on Tuesday confirming that Farah had been dropped from the prosecution team and the prosecution division of the A-G’s Chambers.
He also downplayed her role in the prosecution team, saying that it was confined to taking down notes of the proceedings and that she had no access to the investigation papers.
Doc to be grilled as well
Meanwhile, Karpal confirmed that he would be in court tomorrow although he had yet to fully recover from a lung infection.
Initially, the trial was set to resume on July 19 but was postponed after Karpal went on a two-week medical leave where he was hospitalised at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC).
Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah allowed the postponement after the defence team assured that the trial would resume on Aug 2 even without Karpal’s presence. The trial is scheduled fron Aug 2 to Aug 30.
In another development, the defence team is also expected to grill Kuala Lumpur Hospital general surgeon Dr Mohd Razali Ibrahim over his testimony regarding the chemist’s report on samples taken from Saiful’s anus which showed that penetration took place.
Razali, the second prosecution witness after Saiful, had told the court that the clinical report done by him and two other doctors on July 13, 2008, stated that there were no conclusive findings of penetration because it was prepared without the sample analysis from the Chemistry Department.
However, an exhibit tendered in court clearly stated that the chemist’s report was received by Razali and the other doctors on July 11, 2008.
