By Debra Chong - The Malaysian InsiderUPDATED
KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — The High Court today allowed the prosecution to hold off until Friday the handing over of certain evidence to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's defence team in the lead up to his Sodomy II trial.
Judge Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah granted a temporary stay to the prosecution, which would have been held in contempt of the court if it failed to furnish the extra items demanded by the defence by tomorrow.
The date for delivery, which would have expired tomorrow, no longer applies, deputy public prosecutor Shamsul Sulaiman told reporters.
The judge had last week ruled in Anwar's favour and ordered the prosecutors to hand over several key documents within seven days, including a full copy of the original closed-circuit television (CCTV) videos taken from a condominium where the 61-year-old opposition leader is said to have had sexual relations with his youthful accuser, 24-year-old Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, last year.
The prosecution is appealing to overturn the High Court's decision at the Court of Appeal but cannot file the papers until the High Court judge has supplied the full grounds of his judgment, which could take another month-and-a-half.
Shamsul said the court is obliged to furnish the grounds of judgment within six weeks, by order of Chief Justice Tan Sri Zaki Azmi.
The High Court judge fixed Friday to wrap up the matter after Anwar's lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad opposed the stay, claiming the defence was given too short a notice to reply to the prosecutor's bid.
Amer told The Malaysian Insider that the prosecution's attempts to delay giving the documents was an injustice to Anwar because he would then be denied a fair chance to prepare his best defence for a trial he has repeatedly claimed is based on “trumped up charges”.
In an affidavit filed last Monday to support its bid to hold off carrying out the order, the prosecution noted that a delay would not prejudice against Anwar because the trial date has not been fixed.
Deputy public prosecutor Datuk Nordin Hassan, who wrote the affidavit, stressed that the suspension order was needed to prevent its appeal to the Court of Appeal from becoming “academic”.
Nordin said the High Court's decision on July 16, especially over the witnesses' accounts recorded under section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC), must be suspended in the interest of the public, otherwise it would “jeopardise investigations and prosecution not only on the respondent's case but other criminal cases thoughout Malaysia”.
The High Court will also mention on Friday Anwar's bid to strike out the charges against him and fix the trial date to start.
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