Can’t stop ex-judge from acting as lawyer again, says Anwar’s prosecutor
(Malay Mail Online) – Support for the controversial appointment of Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram as the lead counsel defending Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the latter’s high-profile sodomy appeal came from an unexpected source today, as the lawyer hired by the government to lead the prosecution said there was nothing wrong with a retired judge standing on the other side of the Bar again.
Prominent private lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told reporters that Anwar has the right to choose whomever he wants to be his lawyer, including a former judge, and adding that Gopal too had the freedom to accept the job.
“I don’t think we can curtail anyone including an ex-judge. It is his choice.
“Even the Chief Justice has commented on this, no restriction here,” Muhammad Shafee said at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya, after the Federal Court adjourned hearing Anwar’s appeal against his sodomy conviction to tomorrow.
Today’s hearing was presided over by a five-member panel led by Chief Justice Tun Ariffin Zakaria. Others include Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and Federal Court judges Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Embong, Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar and Datuk Ramly Ali, who replaced Tan Sri Ahmad Haji Maarop.
Anwar is represented by a 14-man defence team led by Gopal. Others include lawyers Ramkarpal Singh Deo, Sangeet Kaur Deo, Sivarasa Rasiah, Latheefa Koya, N. Surendran, Gobind Singh Deo.
Lawyers for the prosecution team are Muhammad Shafee, who is another controversial as he was picked from outside the Attorney-General’s Chambers, and Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria.
The hearing is expected to extend beyond today and the judges are believed likely to reserve judgement to a later date.
Anwar made a surprise move in his appeal to the Federal Court yesterday by appointing Gopal Sri Ram as his main lawyer after his previous choice, Datuk Sulaiman Abdullah fell sick due to a leg surgery a couple months ago.
Anwar has defended his appointment of Gopal, saying it was the ex-judge who volunteered his legal services in the sodomy case.
“Gopal approached us last week,” Anwar told reporters at court yesterday.
The move however, ruffled feathers in some legal circles and reignited debate over Gopal’s appearance as a counsel after his retirement from the top court.
In the March 15 resolution, the Malaysian Bar said that “a retired judge of the superior courts should be prohibited or restricted by law from appearing as counsel in court”, adding among other things that the Bar Council needs to suggest changes to the LPA 1976 to achieve this objective.
The courts that fall under the “superior courts” category in Malaysia’s civil legal system are the Federal Court, Court of Appeal and High Court.
The term “counsel” refers to lawyers who appear in courts, which means that the resolution reflects the Malaysian Bar’s stand that it believed that no one who previously sat as judges in the superior courts should represent clients in any court in Malaysia.
However, the Federal Court made a ruling last September, saying there was no basis to deny the a retired judge from the superior courts from acting as a counsel.
Malaysia’s apex court is hearing this week Anwar’s challenge against his sodomy conviction as decided by the Court of Appeal in March this year, after it overturned a 2012 High Court decision to acquit the 67-year-old politician.
Anwar has repeatedly maintained his innocence, insisting that the charges were trumped up to kill his political career as he allegedly poses a threat to the Barisan Nasional coalition’s decades-long rule with the Pakatan Rakyat alliance, which he now leads.
If Anwar fails to reverse his five-year imprisonment sentence and conviction in the Federal Court, he would lose his seat as the law bars anyone fined RM2,000 or imprisoned for one year from serving as a lawmaker.
