Anwar's Affidavit Inaccurate

2010/02/09

KUALA LUMPUR: The prosecution has filed an affidavit-in-reply pertaining to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's application to disqualify the trial judge.

The application was filed yesterday afternoon at the High Court registry here.

In the affidavit-in-reply, the prosecution lead by Solicitor General II Datuk Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden said that before the Utusan Malaysia reporter can be cited for contempt, the court must first decide whether the newspaper reports were written maliciously.

"The court must first decide whether the said reports had interfered with the administration of justice and undermined a fair trial," he said.

"I find that what the applicant (Anwar) had stated (in his affidavit) was inaccurate."

Yusof admitted to speaking to Anwar's counsel, Karpal Singh, and had told the lawyer that there were no elements of contempt.

"Karpal then told me that he did not want to cite the Utusan Malaysia for contempt but had merely wanted the judge to caution the reporter," he said.

"I did not ask the trial judge to reverse his decision but had wanted him to remind the media to be more careful in future," said Yusof.

He said that his action did not mean that the trial judge had erred in his ruling.

Yusof added that there was no element of bias in the judge's ruling and his decision was based on the facts and the law.

"This application has no merit and justification and is an abuse of court process," he said, adding that the application should be dismissed.

Source : nst online