PUTRAJAYA, July 22: Today, the Putrajaya Court of Appeal agreed to postpone the appeal proceedings of the Malaysian Government against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal of sodomy charges made by his former personal aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
The decision was made by a panel of three judges, Datuk Ramly Ali, Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh this morning because Anwar’s lead counsel, Karpal Singh was confirmed to be unwell and is receiving treatment at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) for spinal pains.
The court set August 1 for case management.
Anwar arrived at the court grounds at around 9am, accompanied by his wife, Datin Seri Wan Azizah Ismail, PKR Strategy Director, Rafizi Ramli, and the PKR Secretary General, Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
Meanwhile, when met by reporters out the courtroom, Anwar said that he has sent notices to object the Government’s decision to appoint lawyer Dr Shafee Abdullah as the Chief Prosecutor in this case.
“His actions have been unprofessional since 1998.
“We have given notice to object the decision by the Umno-BN Government for appointing Datuk Shafee Abdullah, who is already accused of being involved in the case proceedings since the beginning.
“The absence of an appropriate prosecutor to proceed with the trial cannot be used as an excuse to appoint a person involved in the trial against me in and out of court,” said the Opposition Leader referring to Shafee’s role in the Sodomy I case which saw his release from the Federal Court in 2004.
Anwar stressed that Ram Karpal Singh will deliver the notice to the court to object Shafee’s appointment.
“We cannot underestimate such things because I believe that there is a great political motive in this case.
“The Attorney General does not want to solve other cases, but wants to disrupt my political career,” he said.
