No interference by PMO in Anwar's sodomy conviction, Apex court told

There was no interference by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in relation to Federal Court decision to uphold Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's conviction and five-year jail sentence for sodomising his former aide, the Federal Court was told today.

The Attorney-General Chambers Trials and Appellate Division head Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid, who is leading the prosecution team, argued that the PMO had no knowledge whatsoever on the outcome of the Federal Court decision on Feb 10, 2015.

Ahmad Kamal said furthermore the Federal Court was totally independent of any other body in its decision making.

"All the insinuations and innuendos that the PMO knew about the decision beforehand are wrong, baseless and irresponsible. That is fortified by the fact that the applicant (Anwar) was acquitted in the High Court," he said.

He further said that any other innuendos were therefore misplaced and ill conceived, devoid of any merits and should be rejected totally.

Ahmad Kamal submitted that there was also no communication whatsoever between PMO and the Federal Court either prior or subsequent to the decision.

"In the affidavit-in-reply affirmed by Datuk Seri Tengku Shariffuddin Tengku Ahmad who was the director of the Media Division at the PMO, explained that it is also a normal practice for PMO to issue an immediate response by way of media statement on the matter," submitted Ahmad Kamal.

Tengku Shariffuddin had filed the affidavit to reply to Anwar's affidavit to support his review application.

Ahmad Kamal was submitting at the hearing of Anwar's review application to set aside his sodomy conviction and five-year jail sentence for sodomising Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 31.

The appeal is being heard by a five-man bench led by Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin. The others on the panel are Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum and Federal Court Judges Tan Sri Hasan Lah, Tan Sri Abu Samah Nordin and Tan Sri Zaharah Ibrahim.

Ahmad Kamal stressed that it was a normal practice for the PMO to prepare two separate media statements because the decision had to be either one of two possibilities, that was acquittal or conviction.