Government applies to strike out Anwar's lawsuit

The government has applied to strike out a lawsuit by former opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim against his Sodomy II conviction for committing the alleged offence against his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

This was told to reporters by Anwar's counsel, Melissa Sasidaran, after case management in chambers before High Court deputy registrar Erry Shariman Noor Arifin, with senior federal counsel Muhammad Azmi Mashud, representing the government as the sole defendant in the suit, also present.

Melissa said the court fixed July 21 for the next case management.

On May 21, the government had filed an application to strike out Anwar''s suit on grounds of abuse of the court process, it did not show a reasonable cause for action, was unconstitutional and smacked of sedition.

Anwar, in his civil suit filed on last April 17, had also applied for the decision of the Court of Appeal on March 7, 2014 and decision of the Federal Court on Feb 10, 2015 be put aside due to the perjured evidence given by Mohd Saiful, the main prosecution witness.

Anwar stated that the Court of Appeal had struck out the decision of the High Court which acquitted and discharged him, and then convicted him and sentenced him to five years'' jail.

The Federal Court, however, dismissed his appeal on Feb 10, 2015 and upheld the sodomy conviction and jail sentence.

He also argued that the defendant had knowledge that the sodomy incident claimed by Mohd Saiful to have happened, never happened or could not have taken place based on the latter''s testimony.

Due to the fraudulent evidence, Anwar claimed that the decision of the Court of Appeal which was upheld by the Federal Court was null and void, and could be set aside under Section 44 of the Evidence Act 1950.

Anwar is now serving a five-year jail term at Sungai Buloh Prison after he was found guilty of sodomising Mohd Saiful at Unit 11-5-1, Desa Damansara Condominium, Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara, here, between 3.10 pm and 4.30 pm on June 26, 2008. -- Bernama