Judge says no medical documents for Anwar

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was dealt a blow today when the High Court here dismissed his application to obtain medical documents related to his on-going sodomy trial.

Judge Datuk Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah dismissed the application, saying that it had lacked “legal basis” after listening to submissions from the prosecution as well as Anwar’s legal team.

“There is no provision or legal basis for the defence to be supplied with documents. Therefore, I hereby dismiss the application,” said Mohd Zabidin.

Earlier on, Anwar’s lead counsel, Karpal Singh, said that since the application had been made during the course of the trial and not before its commencement, the court “needs to consider that the documents and materials asked for must be relevant to the issues for adjudication.”

“This application for the documents and materials set out in the notice of motion is being made in the course of the trial and after the examination-in-chief of SP2, Dr Mohd Razali Ibrahim, has been given under the observation of the expert for the defence, Dr David Lawrence Noel Wells.

“David Lawrence Noel Wells, who has impeccable qualifications as an expert, particularly in the field of forensic medicine in Malaysian and Australia has affirmed an affidavit in support of the application,” said Karpal.

Karpal argued that the medical documents and reports of Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, coupled with the qualifications of the three Hospital Kuala Lumpur doctors who had examined him was “necessary” to allow Dr Wells to advise the defence team on how to cross-examine Dr Razali.

It is understood that a notice of motion was filed to obtain:

1. All clinical notes, reports, materials, and specimens taken by the three Hospital Kuala Lumpur doctors (Dr Khairul Nizam, Dr Mohd Razali Ibrahim, and Dr Siew Sheue Feng) in relation to the examination of Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan;

2. Saiful’s complete medical history;

3. Standard sexual assault proforma and sexual assault kits used in HKL;

4. The qualifications of the three doctors.

But Solicitor-General II Datuk Yusof Zainal Abiden claimed that “no grounds” were disclosed in the notice of the motion by the defence team.

Anwar’s team failed to convince the judge that there was a basis for them to be supplied with the medical documents. — file pic
“[T]he applicant failed to particularise the provisions of the law upon which this application is made. The Applicant must clearly state the specific law which entitled him to those documents or materials he is applying for section 51 or 51A of the Code,” said Yusof.

The lead prosecutor also rubbished Anwar’s claims that Dr Razali’s testimony contradicted earlier findings of the HKL medical report with Dr Khairul and Dr Siew.

Dr Razali had told the court that he did not know the locations of swab samples taken from Saiful because he was unaware of the contents of the chemist’s report, and said that it was only made known to him during examination-in-chief by the prosecution.

“At this juncture, the Applicant has not laid down any foundation to show that there is any contradiction or any hunch of the existence of contradiction, to justify the supply of any documents or materials mentioned in the notice of motion.

“Neither has SP2 (Dr Razali) requested for the refreshing of his memory in the course of this trial so as to enable the defence to inspect the necessary documents, if so required,” added Yusof.

Karpal told reporters that the defence team will be appealing the decision.

“A notice of appeal will be sent to the Court of Appeals on Monday,” said Karpal.

Anwar’s chase for documents had begun even before the sodomy trial itself.

He had been unsuccessful previously when the Federal Court quashed his bid to gain access to relevant documents pertaining to the trial prior to its commencement.

Anwar, the 62-year-old PKR de facto leader, is charged with sodomising Saiful at Unit 11-5-1 of the Desa Damansara Condominium in Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara here between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.

The former deputy prime minister has denied the charge, describing it as “evil, frivolous lies by those in power” when the charge was read out to him. He is charged under section 377B of the Penal Code and can be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years’ jail and whipping upon conviction. The trial is taking place 18 months after Anwar was charged in court in August 2008.

Anwar was charged with sodomy and corruption in 1998 after he was sacked from the Cabinet and was later convicted and jailed for both offences. He was freed in September 2004 and later resurrected his political career by winning back his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in a by-election in 2008, which had been held in the interim by his wife.

He had earlier led the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, to a historic sweep of five states and 82 Parliamentary seats in Election 2008.

The sodomy trial proper will commence on July 14.



comments


What is so difficult to give the document as the trail in ongoing. How you expect the defence team to justify. What type of law do we have overhere in Malaysia.

It's very obvious that the judiciary has a part in this circus of freak show trial.

The whole world needs to know how corrupted these officials are.

i have never heard of a court case where evidence is witheld from the defense? Is this a new thing in justice circles?

If the defense (Anwar) cannot get any hard proof regarding the prosecutor's testimonies, how can they know if the prosecutor haven't just fabricated the statements from the documents? Wouldn't that be a bias against the defense?

an innocent guy is accused of sodomy and maybe put to jail for life !!! isn't this good enough to support !!!??? what like of system we have NOW !!!??? the system is 'guilty as charge without having to prove especially if you are a strong voiced-opposition' .

maybe its time to request bn to build more jail structures so that can accomodate them when pr takes over !!!!

actually this is just the waste of time and money,,the bn govn had already decided to jail him get on with it and go to jail for the rakyat ,,the rakyat wsill love u more,,and vote the bn govn out the next time