Court rejects Anwar's bid to admit Ramli's evidence in sodomy conviction review

The Federal Court today dismissed an application by former Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to admit former Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Ramli Yusuff's evidence in his sodomy conviction review bid, ruling that the evidence were irrelevant and insignificant.

Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, chairing a five-panel bench, held that there was no nexus between Ramli's testimony and Anwar's defence of political conspiracy for his review application.

"We find nothing in the testimony of Ramli that would disclose any evidence in relation to the applicant's (Anwar) defence of political conspiracy. The evidence of Ramli would be futile in the circumstances of the case," said Justice Zulkefli.

The panel also held that there was an overwhelming amount of evidence available for the court to decide on the guilt, or otherwise, of the applicant and there was no necessity to resort to outside information.

In the judgment, Justice Zulkefli said Anwar's acquittal and discharge by the High Court at the end of the defence case was not made on the ground of political conspiracy, although the trial judge did consider Anwar's defence.

Justice Zulkefli said based on proceeding records at the High Court, Court of Appeal and Federal Court, Anwar was given a fair trial and hearing and therefore he had failed to satisfy the requirement of Section 93 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 for admission of additional evidence.

He said given that the case on the black eye incident and the conspiracy to fabricate the evidence on the incident had already been concluded, it would be remote to admit the evidence on the present case to support Anwar's allegation of political conspiracy, which was altogether different in cause of action and relevancy.

The judge said that if the evidence was relevant to the appellant's case, it was only relevant to his previous sodomy case in 1998.

"It is our finding that the present case, there was no involvement of parties alleged to have conspired to fabricate the evidence as to what had allegedly taken place in the black eye incident," he added.

Anwar, 68, had on June 10, last year, filed an application seeking for Ramli's oral testimony to be accepted by the Federal Court and subsequently, used as evidence at the hearing of his review application.

In his notice of motion, Anwar said on May 27, 2015, Ramli had given a sworn testimony at the Kuala Lumpur High Court in a civil suit which supported his (Anwar's) defence that he was a victim of political conspiracy and fabricated evidence.

The witness statement by Ramli were in relation to the "black-eye incident" where Anwar had suffered injury in his eye as a result of being punched by former Inspector General of Polis (IGP) Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor and the alleged conspiracy by former Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and former IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan to stage a cover-up of the incident.

Justice Zulkefli further said Ramli's witness statement that was used in Anwar's affidavit in support of his application was not credible evidence as his affidavit amounted to hearsay because it attempted to establish the truth of the contents of the witness statement without the maker (Ramli) being examined on the subject matter.

He also said the prosecution in the affidavit-in-reply to Anwar's application had denied the involvement of Abdul Gani and Musa in the fabrication of the evidence in the present case.

Justice Zulkefli, who sat with Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum and Federal Court judges Tan Sri Hasan Lah, Tan Sri Abu Samah Nordin and Datuk Zaharah Ibrahim, said Anwar's application was unsustainable and with no merit, and therefore dismissed it.

Anwar is currently serving a five-year sentence in the Sungai Buloh Prison for sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 30, after losing his final appeal at the Federal Court to set aside his sodomy conviction.

However, on April 30 this year, he filed an application seeking from the Federal Court, which had convicted him, a review of the decision.

The Federal Court set July 21 to hear the review application.

The Court of Appeal overturned Anwar's acquittal and found him guilty of sodomising Mohd Saiful at Unit 11-5-1, Desa Damansara Condominium in Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara Kuala Lumpur, between 3.10 pm and 4.30 pm on June 26, 2008.