The last-minute postponement on Friday of Anwar’s Federal Court appeal, set for hearing tomorrow, is not in the cause of justice, as “justice delayed is justice denied”.
This is the third time the matter has been postponed since it was first slated to be heard by the Federal Court in November 2000.
The reason for the third postponement is indeed most outrageous, prompting Anwar to embark on a “stringent fast” since Friday to protest the continued postponement of his Federal Court appeal against charges of corruption until his appeal is heard.
The reason for the third-time postponement of Anwar’s case, which is to decide whether his conviction on corruption charges and the six-year jail sentence imposed on him by Justice S Augustine Paul on April 14, 1999 should stand or be quashed, is most outrageous and preposterous.
Anwar’s lawyer, Sankara Nair has told reporters he received a fax from the Attorney-General’s Chambers stating that the newly-appointed Attorney-General Datuk Abdul Gani Patail was dealing ‘with other more pressing matters’.
Sankaran said: “In the fax, Gani explained that he was newly-appointed and had very little time to prepare for the case as it was voluminous, complex and that they were given too short a notice to prepare for it.”
The reason for the third postponement of Anwar’s Federal Court appeal
is completely unacceptable as Gani was not only responsible for prosecuting
Anwar in 1998 on charges of sodomy and corruption but had been solely responsible
for Anwar’s Federal Court appeal as Head of the Prosecution
Division of the AG’s Chambers after the retirement of Tan Sri Mohtar
Abdullah as Attorney-General in December 2000.
Gani should not have sought the postponement of Anwar’s Federal Court appeal for the third time, but instead recused himself from handling the matter by delegating it to another top officer in the Attorney-General’s Chambers because this is one of the two serious charges of obstruction with the administration of justice which had been levelled against him and he has still to fully clear himself of the strictures of the Federal Court comprising Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak, Justice Tan Sri Datuk Steve Shim, Federal Court Justices Datuk Abdul Malek Ahmad and Datuk Haidar Mohd Noor on 27th June 2001 in the Zainur Zakaria contempt of court case that Gani should have given his personal explanation on the allegation that he had threatened Datuk S. Nallakaruppan to fabricate evidence against Anwar.
(13/1/2002)