PUTRAJAYA, Oct 28 ― Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's defence team suggested in court today that the K-Y lubricant gel submitted as evidence during his Sodomy II hearing was just an “afterthought” by the prosecution.
Former Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, who is leading the 14-man team, pointed out that the police report lodged by case complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan had not even made any mention of the item.
“The presence of the gel is a matter of doubt...Existence of KY Gel is an afterthought.,” the lawyer told the court this morning.
“Police report makes no mention that he (Saiful) was asked to bring K-Y Gel (by Anwar on day of alleged sodomy).”
Sri Ram said that High Court judge Datuk Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah had “erred” when he ruled back in 2012 that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against his client.
This, he said, was because the trial judge had erred in holding complainant Saiful to be “credible witness” and refusing to allow Anwar's defence team to test the evidence against the statement the latter had given to the police.
The lawyer also questioned Saiful's statement claiming that he was in pain after the alleged sodomy took place.
“Because if gel has been present he (Saiful) would have not felt pain,” Sri Ram added.
“It is submitted with respect that a reasonable tribunal properly directing itself on the foregoing items of evidence would have held PW1 (Saiful) to be an unreliable witness and found the offence unproved,” he stressed.
Anwar, who is the Permatang Pauh MP, was charged with sodomy for the second time after Saiful, his former aide, complained of being sodomised by the politician at the Desa Damansara condominium in upscale Bukit Damansara on June 26, 2008.
The Federal Court is 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 tomorrow, 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 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.
