Sodomy II: Hearing of Najib, Rosmah’s application postponed to Monday

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife's twin applications to skip the Sodomy II trial will now be heard on Monday to allow them to prepare a reply to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's affidavit-in-reply.

Lawyers acting for both the prime minister and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor told the High Court that they were only served with a sealed copy of Anwar's affidavit today.

"We would be obliged if the court could give us time to take instructions from our clients and for us to file an affidavit-in-reply," lawyer Datuk Ghazi Ishak said.

Trial judge Datuk Yusof Zainal Abiden then fixed Najib and Rosmah's application to be heard on Monday afternoon.

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.

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.

Anwar's defence team has insisted the prime minister and his wife are relevant witnesses for the opposition leader's ongoing Sodomy II trial.

Anwar arrives at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur for the hearing of his case on September 29, 2011. — Picture by Jack Ooi

In his affidavit-in-reply to Najib, 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."

Anwar has raised similar points in his affidavit-in-reply to Rosmah, 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 on 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's.

Anwar had opened his defence case by calling the sodomy charge a trumped-up allegation masterminded by Najib.

The former deputy prime minister said Najib wanted to end his political career and hopes of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) taking over the federal government.

His lawyers had named 25 witnesses who included Najib, Rosmah and former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan.

The Malaysian Insider :: Malaysia