High Court to hear Anwar sodomy case

Opposition leader and PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be tried for sodomy in the High Court.
This ruling by the High Court, which Anwar’s lawyers have described as “very disappointing,” came Thursday morning following a review of the Sessions Court’s decision last November that an order by the Attorney-General to transfer the case to the High Court for hearing was invalid.
The review was sought by the prosecution.
In reading out his decision, Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah said he found that the “learned Sessions Court judge had erred when she found the certificate tendered by the prosecution to be invalid.”
“Therefore the learned Sessions judge’s decision is set aside.
“I remit this case to the Sessions court for mention with an order to the Sessions Court to accept the certificate which had been tendered earlier and thereafter to make the necessary order to have the case transferred to the High Court,” he said.
The mention has been set for next Tuesday (March 10).
Anwar is on trial for allegedly sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in Bukit Damansara on June 26 last year.
His lawyers have consistently argued that Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail should be disqualified based on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s assurance that Abdul Gani and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, who had allegedly fabricated evidence in Anwar’s sodomy trial 11 years ago, would not be involved this time around.
On Nov 7, Sessions Court judge S.M. Komathy Suppiah ruled that the transfer certificate signed by Abdul Gani to move the case from her court to the High Court was invalid.
Solicitor-General II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden had argued that the Sessions Court was not the proper forum to decide on the validity of the certificate, and instead the defence should have applied to the High Court to quash the certificate there.
Anwar’s lead counsel Sulaiman Abdullah had countered by saying that in a criminal proceeding, the defence could use all manners of defence, including challenging the validity of a transfer certificate.
However, after listening to submissions from both parties, Justice Mohamad Zabidin decided that any promise with regards to the prosecution could only be made by the Attorney-General and not the Prime Minister.
He also questioned whether having the case heard in the High Court would result in Anwar being denied a fair trial, or be victimised, to which he said:
“The answer is definitely ‘No.’ The law and procedure of application in hearing this case is the same regardless of whether it is heard in the Sessions or High Court.”
He added that by signing the transfer certificate, Abdul Gani was “merely performing an administrative function,” and “was not exercising a judicial or quasi judicial function.”
Anwar’s lawyer S.N. Nair said that the defence would be filing an appeal with the Court of Appeal later Thursday.