Sodomy II: Anwar slams Shafee's "lack of professionalism"

PUTRAJAYA: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (pic) hit out at lead prosecutor Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah for his apparent lack of professionalism in handling the sodomy appeal hearing in the Federal Court.

After being in the same courtroom for eight days, the PKR leader accused Shafee of "behaving like a political tool."

"He is here as a public prosecutor and so should behave that way,” he told reporters at the end of submissions in his final appeal against a sodomy conviction and five-year jail sentence.

The Court of Appeal overturned a High Court decision and found Anwar guilty of having sodomised his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 27, at Unit 11-5-1 of the Desa Damansara Condominium in Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara, between 3.10pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008.

Referring to Shafee’s remarks in court on Thursday that he would “nail the last nail on Anwar’s coffin”, Anwar, who is Opposition Leader, said: “Today, there was no nail or coffin.” 

Anwar then thanked his counsels, including the late Karpal Singh, for having done “a great job” defending him.

“They have presented a very convincing and compelling argument in turn destroying the prosecution’s case," he said.

Counsel Ramkarpal Singh said the hearing was among the longest in the history of the Federal Court.

“This only goes to show how much there is to this case and what had happened when everything was wrapped up within two days before this (when the Court of Appeal overturned a High Court decision that freed Anwar). We hope justice will prevail,” he said.

Shafee told reporters outside the court that the prosecution had had their say, pointing out that it was common practice for judgement in high profile cases to be reserved.

“The judges will need to think about the arguments properly and evaluate all the documents before setting a date for the outcome. It can be as early as a week but maybe two, I suspect they would want to deliver a full judgement,” he said.

Shafee denied using the words “nail in the coffin” when referring to the opposition leader’s political career.

Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria, chairing a five-man bench, said the panel needed more time to make a decision.

The other four judges on the panel were Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and Federal Court judges Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong, Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar and Datuk Ramly Ali.

Arifin also extended Anwar's bail of RM10,000. The hearing of the appeal had gone on for eight days, beginning Oct 28.

The court will make its ruling on whether to allow or dismiss Anwar's appeal to set aside his conviction and jail sentence imposed by the Court of Appeal on March 7 this year, after it had overturned a High Court decision to acquit him.