PUTRAJAYA, Dec 28 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s former speech-writer Dr Munawar Ahmad Anees today failed to get parts of the Federal Court judgment relating to his sodomy case expunged.
Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria and Federal Court judges Datuk Wira Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Datuk Raus Md Sharif unanimously dismissed his application for a review of the judgment dated Dec 17, 2008.
The judgment was handed down by the Federal Court in dismissing his application for a review to remit his appeal against conviction and six-month jail sentence for sodomy to the High Court for argument on merit.
Neither Munawar nor his counsel Manjeet Singh Dhillon were present today while deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud was the only party who appeared before the court.
In putting an end to the legal bid, Raus, who read the 15-page the judgment, said the court found paragraphs 20 to 26 in it were not something "plucked from thin air".
"From the impugned judgment itself, it is clear that what was said by this court in paragraphs 20 to 26 was in relation to something which was argued by the parties. Hence, there is nothing wrong for this court to express its view or opinion on the matters submitted before the court," he said.
Raus said whether what was said in the paragraphs 20 to 26 is obiter dicta (remark) or a ruling was not for the court to determine through the review application.
"As rightly pointed out by the learned deputy public prosecutor, there should not be a declaratory order to pinpoint which part of a judgment is obiter or a ruling. Such determination has to be done by the skills of counsel appearing before the courts. It cannot be done by way of an application as it being done in this case," he said.
Raus said in this case, the court did not see any circumstances to invoke its inherent powers to review its own decision.
He said only in very limited and exceptional cases, the court had the inherent jurisdiction to review its own decision such as when the decision had been obtained by fraud or suppression of material evidence, there was a clear infringement of statutory law and where bias had been established.
None of the above could fit into the facts of the present case, he said.
Raus said in a criminal matter which originated from the Sessions Court as in the case, the appeal should stop at the Court of Appeal.
"This court had ruled it could not deal with the matter for want of jurisdiction. Surely, after declining jurisdiction, this court cannot now assume jurisdiction. The matter has come to an end. It has to stop otherwise there will be no end to a litigation," he added
Munawar, 61, had served six months in prison in 1998 after he pleaded guilty in the Sessions Court, to allowing Anwar to sodomise him in Anwar's house in Jalan Setia Murni 1, Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur during March 1993.
Munawar had served his sentence but decided to challenge the court's decision to clear his name, claiming that he was coerced into pleading guilty to the charge. — Bernama
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