We have the answers to Team Anwar’s ‘old stories’, Shafee says
(Malay Mail Online) – Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah today dismissed the rebuttal so far by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s lawyers, labelling them “old stories” and saying he has all the answers ready for his turn tomorrow.
Shafee, who is leading the prosecution team in the ongoing appeal hearing for Sodomy II, told reporters that he will wrap up his arguments tomorrow within 10 to 15 minutes.
“What we hear from them are old stories, we have answers. Our arguments are based on facts,” he said.
Asked if he knew whether the court plans on delivering its judgment tomorrow, the lawyer said he was unsure.
“Can be another day, can be tomorrow. Anything can happen,” he said.
The hearing for Anwar’s Sodomy II appeal was initially slated to go on for two days from October 28 last week.
The case has since dragged on for seven days now and is set to resume tomorrow with the prosecution rebutting arguments raised by Anwar’s team of defence lawyers.
Before wrapping up for Team Anwar today, lead counsel Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram took the opportunity to dissect the evidence given by Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, casting doubt on the youth’s credibility as the sodomy complainant and suggesting that the alleged sodomy act never took place.
The lawyer said that the carpet presented as evidence during trial was never proven to have been used during the alleged sodomy act, as previously claimed by Saiful during his testimony.
He pointed out that the carpet never had signs of the K-Y jelly that Saiful had claimed he had spilled during the act, and was even retrieved by investigators from a different apartment unit from the one where the alleged sodomy occurred.
“Learned friend (Shafee) said carpet moved from 11-5-1 to 11-5-2,” the lawyer said, referring to the apartment units.
“I dont believe in flying carpets. No shred of evidence to prove carpet moved. No evidence carpet existed in 11-5-1,” Sri Ram said.
Sri Ram also suggested that Saiful had always hated Anwar and never idolised him as suggested, citing the testimony given by the youth’s former university mate during trial in 2011.
He also questioned the prosecution’s claim that Anwar had showered Saiful with gifts as expensive as one Brioni suit, and said that if this were true, then “fairies exist”.
The Federal Court is currently hearing today Anwar’s challenge of the Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn a lower court’s decision to acquit him of the charge.
The High Court had in 2012 acquitted Anwar of the 2008 charge but the appellate court ruled on March 7 this year that the trial judge had erred when rejecting the DNA evidence produced in the case.
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.
Today’s hearing is presided over by a five-member panel led by Chief Justice Tun Arifin 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.
Anwar is represented by a 14-man defence team led by Sri Ram. Others include lawyers R.Sivarasa, Latheefa Koya, N. Surendran and Gobind Singh Deo.
