by Melissa Lee
Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has successfully subpoenaed 7
witnesses, including Prime Minister Najib Razak, wife Rosmah Mansor and
ex-Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan and Malacca police chief Rodhwan
Ismail to testify at the sodomy trial pressed against him by the Najib
administration.
The group had refused to speak during a closed-door interview
last week, forcing Anwar's lawyers to seek a court order on Friday for them to
co-operate in the trial. If found guilty, Anwar stands to be jailed for up to
20 years.
“Refuse to be interviewed is different from being
subpoenaed,” lead counsel for the defense Karpal Singh told reporters on
Monday. He added that the court orders should have been served by now.
Earlier in his testimony, Anwar had lambasted controversial
trial judge Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah for giving Najib, Rosmah and the two cops a
"lifelife" by allowing them to escape being interviewed as potential
witnesses for the defense.
"Y.A. (Your Honour),
when making the order for the witnesses offered to the defence for interview in
court, gave a lifeline to the witnesses in stating in open court that they
could refuse to be interviewed. Y.A. did not in doing so evenly handle the
scales of justice. Y.A. created and perpetuated an imbalance unbecoming anyone
holding the mantle of justice," said Anwar from the dock.
"In fact, the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Tun
Razak, and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah binti Mansor, former Inspector General
of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan, and SAC Dato’ Rodhwan bin Ismail who featured
prominently in the evidence of PW1 came to the interview room echoing similar
protests namely, “We are not prepared to be interviewed” with the Prime
Minister saying Y.A. suggested this could be done. These were material witnesses
compelling the defence now to resort to causing subpoenas to be issued for
their presence."
Plot
hatched between the 5
Anwar, the first witness to be called by the defense,
had read out from a 32-page statement, reiterating that Najib, Rosmah and the
two senior cops were involved in hatching the plot with Saiful Bukhari Azlan,
the sodomy compliant.
Najib, wife and the two cops had made a show of going to the
court complex last week to meet Anwar's lawyers. However, once there, they
refused to cooperate with the defense team and did not reply or give any
answers. They also refused to take ther witness stand unless they were subpoenaed.
Their reluctance prompted allegations that they were guilty
as charged by Anwar. In his statement, Anwar confirmed that Saiful had met with
Rosmah and not just Najib, two days before loging the police complaint that led
to the current trial.
"The preparation entailed in this
conspiracy was most elaborate and went all the way to the Prime Minister
himself and his wife Rosmah Mansor both of whom by the complainant’s own
admission had met him in their residence where he purportedly complained of being
sexually assaulted. The initial statement by Najib that he had met with the
complainant merely to discuss about a scholarship was a blatant lie only to be
retracted later after various exposes were made via the social media and the
internet blogs," said Anwar.
"It was obvious that neither Najib nor Rosmah would not want to be
seen to be part of the conspiracy being themselves embroiled in a series of
other scandals the details of which have been raised in Parliament which to
date have never been categorically refuted. But the stakes in this conspiracy
are so high that nothing can be left to pure chance for indeed the prospect of
the UMNO led Barisan Nasional losing power to Pakatan Rakyat is becoming more
real by the day.
Alibi
witness harassed
Anwar also slammed the police for harassing his alibi,
Hasanuddin Abd Hamid, the owner of the condo unit where the alleged sodomy took
place. Sources close to the PKR leader say special police operatives have
been put to guard Hasanuddin around the clock to make sure that he could not be
contacted by Anwar's lawyers. Even a maid who worked for him and was present at
the alleged time the sodomy took place cannot be traced.
"My alibi witnesses
made known to the prosecution were in fact included in the prosecution list of
witnesses which was not supplied to my lawyers. They were defence alibi
witnesses. I am informed this is the first time this has been done," said
Anwar.
"In
fact, the owner of the unit 11-5-2, Haji Hasanuddin bin Abd Hamid, had been
harassed by the police for a total of thirty hours in the recording of his
statements which were all video recorded. This was obvious when he was
interviewed by the defence lawyers in my presence. The police investigation has
scuttled my defence.
"To
make a mockery of the situation, the prosecution offered at the close of their
case an alibi witness named, Fitria binti Dipan, who by their own admission
cannot be traced.
Source : MC
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