Anwar to appeal against transfer of case to High Court

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today filed a notice of appeal against the transfer of his sodomy trial to the High Court here.

His lawyer Sankara Nair said the notice to appeal to the Court of Appeal on the decision of revision by Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah at the KL High Court registry was filed at 10.40am today and also at the Court of Appeal registry simultaneously.

On Thursday, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed a revision application by the prosecution to transfer Anwar's sodomy trial to the High Court.

Zabidin, in his 18-page judgment, felt Sessions Court judge S.M Komathy Suppiah had erred when she found the certificate of transfer signed by Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail to be invalid.

He also ruled that Komathy was wrong in hearing the defence's oral objection on the transfer certificate that was signed by the public prosecutor and said any misgiving about the validity of the certificate can be raised at the High Court.

In ruling against the transfer order, Komathy had earlier said the case brings a unique situation where it is evident that any involvement by the AG in this case would seriously undermine public confidence in the criminal justice administration.

Anwar had challenged the validity of the transfer certificate claiming that Abdul Gani could not sign the document because he was still under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Agency, now called the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), in connection with Anwar's police report on the "black eye" incident.

Anwar, 62, is charged with sodomising his former aide, 23-year-old Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, at Unit 11-5-1, Desa Damansara Condominium, Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26 last year.