Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s supporters at the Federal Court on Tuesday after the court Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim upheld his sodomy conviction and jailed him. The opposition leader was accused of sodomising Saiful in 2008. – The Malaysian Insider pic, February 13, 2015.
Former coffee-boy Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan was not charged with abetment in the sodomy case that sent Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to jail as it was “more akin to corruption cases”, where the receiver is charged and the giver is used as a witness against him, says Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.
This was the country's top lawyer's reasoning in answering the burning question people have been asking on why Saiful was not charged with sodomy as well.
"The Attorney-General’s Chambers emphasises that the case against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is more akin to that of corruption cases.
"In almost all corruption cases, the receiver is charged while the giver is used as a witness against him," Gani said in a statement issued in capital city Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
On Tuesday, the Federal Court found Anwar guilty of sodomising his former aide Saiful in a condominium unit at Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, on June 26, 2008 and upheld the five-year jail sentence of the Court of Appeal.
The A-G did not prosecute the case at the Court of Appeal and Federal Court levels as the Attorney-General's Chambers had appointed Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to represent the prosecution.
Gani said the Penal Code provided two instances where a person can be charged with sodomy – Section 377B where “with or without consent” is not an ingredient – and Section 377C where the act of sodomy is committed without consent or against the will of the other person.
For the latter, the law prescribes a minimum five-year jail sentence.
The A-G said this when criticising Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong for suggesting that Anwar should have been charged under Section 377C, saying that the latter's statement was misleading.
"It appears that the president of the Malaysian Bar instead is suggesting that he should be charged under Section 377C, which is a more serious offence and which would have exposed Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to a minimum sentence of imprisonment of five years and a maximum of 20 years," Gani added.
He also said the perception that Anwar was charged and convicted for a “victimless” offence was insupportable.
"Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan was the person who suffered. He provided sworn testimony to a court of law of the acts he suffered, which are a matter of judicial record.
"It must be remembered that all three courts found him to be a credible witness and there was nothing inherently improbable about his story," Gani said.
Leong had said that it was notable that the PKR de facto leader was not charged under Section 377C of the Penal Code with forced sodomy or sodomy rape, although there appeared to have been some allegations of coercion made in the proceedings.
The Bar chief also said that the charge against Anwar was based on a provision of the Penal Code that has rarely been used.
"Given this, it is remarkable that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been prosecuted and convicted twice for an alleged offence of sexual acts between adults wherein the charge does not contain elements of coercion," Leong added.
But Gani countered that since 2010, a total of 171 cases have been charged under Section 377B and 489 cases charged under Section 377C.
"Therefore, while the number of cases charged under section 377B is fewer than those charged under section 377C, the figures categorically demonstrate that section 377B is not a ‘rarely used’ provision as suggested by certain parties," he added.
- TMI
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.