Judicial Commissioner in Anwar’s sodomy suit recuses himself

KUALA LUMPUR: A High Court Judicial Commissioner has recused himself from hearing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s suit as he was a deputy minister before being appointed to the Bench.

Anwar’s lawyer N. Surendran told reporters this after meeting JC Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh in chambers.

“The matter is now referred to the managing judge and the next case management has been fixed for Aug 10,” Surendran said.

In the written grounds for recusal made available to the press, JC Wan Ahmad Farid said it is common knowledge that before being appointed to the Bench, he was the Deputy Home Minister.

He said in that capacity and in anticipation of Parliamentary questions at Dewan Rakyat, he remembered being briefed by the director of criminal investigation in July 2008 of what was also known as the case of Sodomy II.

“I must, however, stress that at no time did I have access to the investigation papers of the said case since members of the administration would not normally intervene in operational matters of the investigation. That is for the police,” he said.

JC Wan Ahmad Farid said the case before the court revolved around Sodomy II where the PKR leader was found guilty of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

He said although he did not have access to the investigation papers, there would be reasonable likelihood of bias.

On April 17, Anwar had filed a suit seeking to declare invalid his conviction for sodomy.

He named the Government as the sole defendant in the civil suit.

He claimed that he was convicted and sent to jail based on perjured evidence given by his accuser and former aide Saiful, 31.

Anwar, 69, was jailed five years for sodomising Saiful at Desa Damansara Condominium in Bukit Damansara on June 26, 2008.

He was sent to jail on March 7, 2014, after the Court of Appeal overturned his acquittal.

He appealed against the conviction but on Feb 10, 2015, the Federal Court dismissed his appeal and upheld the jail term.