Optimistic Shafee guns for heavier sentence

 

Optimistic about the Federal Court upholding the conviction, government-appointed prosecutor Muhammad Shafee Abdullah insists on securing a heavier sentence for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the eight-day appeal, Shafee said the defence team failed to dispute that "Male Y" is Anwar.

"They have only tried to create doubt that the samples taken from the cell is not 'Male Y'.

"If there is conviction, we will further submit to enhance the five-year jail term. This (submissions) will be done after the Federal Court convict Anwar," he added.

The prosecution, had in their cross-appeal, said that the sentence imposed by the appellate court was manifestly inadequate.

When the prosecution filed the cross-appeal, they cited four grounds to enhance the five-year jail term.

Anwar was sentenced for six years for abusing his powers in 1998 and another nine years in sodomy I but the sodomy conviction was set-aside by the Federal Court in 2004.

The senior lawyer also denied that the charge imposed on Anwar was politically motivated as in the past the prosecution had imposed charges on former Selangor menteri besar Harun Idris, and also ex-youth and sports minister Mokhtar Hashim.

He said the judges may need one to two weeks to write the judgment and he expects it to be a full written judgment.

Shafee said the courts had given Anwar a good hearing and previously, it had granted more than 60 postponements in comparison to the prosecution which only applied for three.

Anwar: I am not worried

Meanwhile, Anwar told reporters that he is not worried over what might happen and thanked the Federal Court for listening attentively to all the submissions made.

"My defence team has managed to dismantle the prosecution's submissions," he said.

The opposition leader, who is also Permatang Pauh MP, thanked his team of lawyers including the late Karpal Singh and his children, Ram Karpal, Sangeet Kaur Deo, Gobind Singh Deo as well as N Surendran and R Sivarasa.

He also thanked his lead counsel at the Federal Court, Gopal Sri Ram, and his previous counsel Sulaiman Abdullah.

Anwar also complained that Shafee, as a representative of the prosecution, had been arrogant in claiming that he "wanted to drive the nail into his coffin".

"He must remember that he is not representing Umno and he represents the prosecutor who should be fair. This shows his lack of professionalism," he said.

However, Shafee denied making the statement.

Yesterday, Shafee had wanted Anwar to be cited for contempt for making comments to the media regarding the Federal Court proceeding that if he retired from politics, the court would acquit him.