KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 28 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s defence team insisted today the prime minister and his wife are relevant witnesses for the opposition leader’s ongoing Sodomy II trial.
In his affidavit-in-reply to Datuk Seri Najib Razak filed today, Anwar said he needed the PM to come to court not to show he was involved in a “conspiracy, but to get clarification” on the latter’s meeting with Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan on June 24, 2008, just two days before the alleged sodomy act took place.
Mohd Saiful had accused the PKR de facto leader of sodomising him at the upmarket Desa Damansara Condominium in Damansara Heights here on June 26, 2008.
According to Anwar’s affidavit-in-reply, Najib had admitted to meeting Mohd Saiful for about one hour at his residence, “therefore, I believe there are many more things that were discussed between the Applicant and the Complainant at that meeting which are relevant and material to my defence.”
“This is because the Applicant had generally, at one time, said he did not meet at all with the Complainant but later reversed his statement and said it was the first time he met the Complainant to discuss scholarships,” the 64-year-old grandfather added.
Anwar (picture) raised similar points in a separate affidavit-in-reply to Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, saying he wanted her to explain because she had given a witness statement to the police officer in charge of the ongoing sodomy case, DSP Jude Pereira.
In his court reply to Rosmah’s affidavit filed September 21, Anwar stressed he wanted to get a more detailed explanation from her about a meeting between Mohd Saiful and a man named Muhamad Rahimi Osman, and that the meeting was conveyed to Datuk Mumtaz Begum Abdul Jaafar, who is reported to be a close friend of Rosmah.
“I wish to state that the Applicant’s statement under Section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code clearly showed she had full knowledge of my arrest case,” Anwar said, referring to specific paragraphs contained within Rosmah’s affidavit.
However, the contents of Najib’s affidavit and that of his wife’s remain unknown as their lawyers say they have not been instructed to reveal them.
The High Court is set to hear tomorrow, Najib’s and Rosmah’s twin applications to skip the trial, which resumes on October 3.
“Datuk Seri Najib has said, ‘subpoena, I’ll come’,” Anwar told reporters at court this afternoon.
He repeated he was disappointed the PM was reneging on his word.
“They have said they are not relevant witnesses and their evidence is not material to the case,” Anwar’s lawyer, Sankara Nair said, referring to the PM’s and Rosmah’s affidavits.
“We are saying it is,” Sankara added.
Both Najib and Rosmah were subpoenaed last month after they refused to take part in closed-door interviews.
Although Najib and Rosmah had turned up at the High Court during interviews by the opposition leader’s lawyers, they said they would keep mum unless the court issued a subpoena instructing them to do otherwise.
The lawyers representing the couple are Datuk Sallehuddin Saidin, M.M. Athimulan, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, and Datuk Ghazi Ishak.
PKR de facto leader Anwar had opened his defence case by calling the sodomy charge a trumped-up allegation masterminded by PM Najib.
The former deputy prime minister said the Umno president wanted to end his political career and hopes of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) taking over federal government.
His lawyers had named 25 witnesses which included Najib, Rosmah and former Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan.
