Court strikes out Anwar's bid to set aside sodomy conviction

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has struck out a lawsuit by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to set aside his sodomy conviction, calling it a "backdoor and veiled attempt" to derail the court process.

High Court judge Justice Nik Hasmat Nik Mohamad, in her verbal judgment Monday, said that perjury and fraud were the basis of the former Opposition leader's lawsuit.

"I find this to be inaccurate. The issue of fraud has to be specific. I do not see the plaintiff specifying which prosecution witness committed the perjury.

"This should have been specified. You cannot pluck the word 'fraud' from the air and throw it to the court," she said here to a packed public gallery.

Justice Nik Hasmat noted that the lawsuit was initiated three years after the Court of Appeal overturned Anwar's acquittal and described it as a "backdoor and veiled attempt" to derail the court process.

She allowed the Government's application to strike out the suit with RM5,000 costs to be paid to them.

Anwar's lawyer N. Surendran said they would be appealing the decision.

On April 17, 2017, Anwar filed a suit seeking to declare his Sodomy II conviction invalid and for his immediate release.

He named the Government as the sole defendant in the civil suit.

He claimed that he was convicted and sent to jail based on perjured evidence given by his accuser and former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 32.

In his statement of claim, Anwar said the Government knew what Saiful said was false.

Besides costs and other relief, he asked for the judgment of the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court to be set aside by virtue of Section 44 of the Evidence Act 1950 for fraud.

On Jan 9, 2012, a High Court here found Anwar not guilty of sodomising Saiful at Desa Damansara Condominium in Bukit Damansara on June 26, 2008.

However, the Court of Appeal overturned his acquittal and sentenced him to a five-year imprisonment on March 7, 2014.

He appealed against the conviction but on Feb 10, 2015, the Federal Court dismissed his appeal and upheld the jail term.

SFC Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud appeared for the Government while lawyers N. Surendran and Latheefa Koya appeared for Anwar.