FMT ALERT PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has dismissed Anwar Ibrahim's appeal on a High Court refusal to throw out his sodomy charge.
The appeal was dismissed by a three-man panel led by Justice Ahmad Maarop after ruling that the Court of Appeal had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Anwar had appealed the Aug 16 decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court which had dismissed his application to strike out the sodomy charge.
The matter was to have been heard last week but was adjourned to today following an application by the prosecution on jurisdictional issue.
The prosecution team, headed by Solicitor-General II Mohamed Yusof Zainal Abiden, had raised a preliminary objection in saying Anwar did not have the right to lodge an appeal against the High Court's decision because the order by the High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah was not a final order.
Anwar's application to strike out the sodomy charge was based on his claim that the impartiality of the prosecution team had been compromised following an alleged affair between Anwar's accuser Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan and a member of the prosecution team, deputy public prosecutor Farah Azlina Latif.
He claimed that as a result of the alleged affair, Mohd Saiful had access to information on the case, and that had deprived him of a fair trial.
This is his second application to strike out the sodomy charge. His first application had been dismissed by the High Court, a decision which was upheld by the Federal Court on May 4 this year.
Anwar, 63, is on trial for allegedly sodomising Mohd Saiful, his former personal aide at unit 11-5-1, Desa Damansara Condominium, Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara, between 3.01pm and 4.30pm, on June 26, 2008.
Anwar's trial will now resume tomorrow morning at the KL High Court.
MORE TO FOLLOW
No comments:
Post a Comment