Putrajaya, Dec 11 – The Court of Appeal here has adjourned to Dec 19, to hear Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s second application to disqualify senior lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah as lead prosecutor in the prosecution’s appeal against the opposition leader’s acquittal on a sodomy charge.
Justice Aziah Ali, chairing a three-member panel Wednesday, fixed the new date after allowing Anwar’s counsel, Tommy Thomas’s application for time to reply to Muhammad Shafee’s affidavit which he only received Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, the hearing of the prosecution’s appeal against Anwar’s acquittal on the charge of sodomising his former aide which was scheduled for Wednesday, is also postponed as Anwar’s counsel, Karpal Singh, who is in charge of the matter, is warded at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital since last Saturday (Dec 7) for lung congestion.
Aziah has fixed Dec 19 for case management on the prosecution’s appeal.
The court requested Anwar to be present in court at the next hearing.
At Wednesday’s proceeding, Anwar was not present as he was attending a seminar in Washington, United States.
Justices Datuk Rohana Yusuf and Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh were the other two judges presiding on the panel.
On Dec 6, Anwar, 66, filed a second application to disqualify Muhammad Shafee from leading the prosecution team. This time, he used the information in former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim’s statutory declaration as the grounds to file the new application to disqualify Muhammad Shafee.
His first application was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on Sept 17, this year and he was also unsuccessful in his appeal at the Federal Court.
His first application to disqualify Muhammed Shafee was based on the validity of his appointment and also on the grounds of alleged conflict of interest as he (Muhammad Shafee) was purportedly to be a material witness in Anwar’s sodomy trial.
On Jan 9, last year, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur acquitted and discharged Anwar, on a charge of sodomising Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 26, at a Desa Damansara condominium unit in Bukit Damansara between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.
The prosecution lodged an appeal to the Court of Appeal against Anwar’s acquittal.
In Wednesday’s proceeding, Thomas had requested time to file their affidavit-in-reply but Muhammad Shafee wanted the case to proceed as soon as possible as he indicated to the court that he was prepared to cancel his holidays for the matter to be heard.
Aziah said the court did not have copies of Muhammad Shafee’s affidavit.
After the court proceeding ended, Anwar’s counsel and the prosecutors were seen entering the judges’ chambers.
Meanwhile, another of Anwar’s counsel, Ram Karpal Singh told reporters that Anwar had written to the court to postpone Wednesday’s proceeding because he had to attend a seminar in the United States.
In his affidavit to object to Anwar’s application to disqualify him, Muhammad Shafee said Anwar was making a deliberate, conscious and consistent attempt to disqualify him from prosecuting the case by anchoring his applications on frivolous and vexatious grounds which was an abuse of court process as it was engineered to cause maximum delay and unmeritorious postponement.
In the affidavit, Muhammad Shafee denied that he had commented on any alleged misconduct against Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, in particular, over Malaysia’s loss of Batu Puteh to Singapore.
–Bernama
