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Thursday, 13 May 2010

'Testimony proves Najib-Rosmah-IGP conspiracy' - Malaysiakini

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim argued that today's testimony by star witness Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan proved a high-level conspiracy against him.

Anwar, 63, when met at the end of the third day of Saiful's cross-examination, told reporters that he had always maintained that the sodomy charge - his second in 10 years - is the result of a political conspiracy aimed at killing his political career.

NONE"Now we have evidence that this is not just a mere coincidence. This entire team is associated with Rosmah (Mansor), Najib (Abdul Razak) and the inspector-general of police (Musa Hassan)," he said.

"This show is much better than a Tamil movie," he quipped, before leaving the courtroom.

Throughout today's cross-examination of Saiful by senior lawyer Karpal Singh, the key witness was asked about his meeting with then deputy prime minister Najib at his private residence in Taman Duta in June 2008.

It was during the cross-examination where Saiful revealed that he not only met Najib, who is now prime minister, two days before the alleged sodomy, but also with SAC I Rodwan Mohd Yusof, who is now Malacca police chief.

NONEIn addition, Saiful met with a host of other individuals, among them former PKR Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor, who is now a senator, and Najib's then special officer Khairil Anas.

Saiful, 25, also told the court that he had made a telephone call to police chief Musa a day before the alleged sodomy.

Throughout the trial today, Saiful appeared a little uneasy with some of the questions posed by Karpal, in particular his meeting with senior police officer Rodwan.

At times, the star witness, who is wearing a white long-sleeve shirt and black jacket, seemed hard pressed, but offered a smile at other times after answering questions from Karpal.

Sodomy I
- deja vu


Rodwan, 52, is not a stranger to the sodomy trial.

He was the investigating officer in the alleged sodomy case involving Anwar and his adopted brother, Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja, in 1998.

Rodwan was then an assistant superintendent. He now holds the rank senior assistant commissioner I, and is the most senior cop in Malacca.

NONEMeanwhile, Musa was the investigating officer in Anwar's sodomy case involving his wife's former driver Azizan Abu Bakar, as well as the head of the investigating team in the whole sodomy affair.

He moved up the ranks over the years and became the country's police chief in 2006. His contract will end in September this year.

Anwar has consistently alleged that Musa was involved in a conspiracy against him in his first sodomy trial.

Saiful had also testified that he met Khairil sometime between December 2007 and January 2008 for a letter of support to obtain a study loan to be a pilot at a Kota Bharu training school.

mumtaz jaafar 120510Both Khairil and former top athlete Mumtaz Jaafar (left) - said to be a close confidante of Rosmah - were called into the courtroom this afternoon to be identified by Saiful.

Mumtaz is the executive chairperson of the National Athlete Welfare Foundation, an organisation which Rosmah is the patron.

Saiful told the court that he informed Mumtaz about the alleged sodomy incident, a day after it took place on June 26, 2008.

Mumtaz was the second person to know about the alleged incident after Saiful's uncle, Tuah Mohamed.

Anwar files appeal

Karpal also told the court that the defence team had filed a notice of motion to appeal High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah's decision to dismiss his application to have access to Saiful's statements which he had given to the police.

azlanIn his affidavit, Anwar said there was merit in the application as justice Zabidin's decision was a final order, which is appealeable at the Court of Appeal.

"There are novel issues which had never been raised before and hence we also apply for a stay of proceedings with the cross-examinaton to allow the appeal to be heard (first)," Anwar states in his affidavit.

Zabidin has fixed tomorrow morning to hear an application by Karpal for a stay of the proceedings pending the appeal.

Earlier today, Karpal came close to being cited for contempt of court after he implied that the prosecution knew the outcome of today's decision.

The senior defence lawyer had observed that the prosecution appeared to be well-prepared with case laws to object to the defence's application.

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