Malaysiakini
Jun 25, 11

Karpal Singh slammed the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate Court’s handling of the Datuk T proceedings yesterday for showing the sex video to the public and for allowing Anwar to be implicated in his absence.

“This is the first time in legal history of the country that a pornographic video clip produced as an exhibit in court has been played on two big screens, one facing them magistrate and the other the public gallery,” said the Bukit Gelugor MP and veteran lawyer in a statement today.

Karpal said in such situations the public gallery would always be cleared.

While he agreed that as a fundamental element of the charge against the Datuk T trio, the screening had to be done in the presence of the magistrate and relevant parties, and this should not include the public.

“It should have been the business of the magistrate to have immediately removed the screen facing the public gallery and cleared the public gallery,” he said.

At yesterday’s hearing related to the Carcosa sex video scandal, businessman Shazryl Eskay Abdullah and former Perkasa treasurer Shuib Lazim were jointly charged with possession and distribution of pornography under Section 292(a) of the Penal Code.

The third member of the trio former Malacca chief minister Rahim Thamby Chik was charged with abetment under Section 109 of the Penal Code.

The presiding magistrate Aizatul Akmal Maharani slapped the trio with a fine totalling RM5,500.

The three were reported leaving the courthouse before paying their fines, with one of their lawyers explaining that the magistrate had given them up to 4pm that day to settle the amount

In presenting the defence, Datuk T’s lawyer claimed that they had proven up to “99.99 percent” that the man in the sex video was opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Identity of actor ‘not evidence’

Karpal blasted the magistrate for allowing references on the likeness of the opposition leader to the man in the sex video as it had nothing to do with evidence related to the charge.

“What was stated in the facts and mitigation was, in the first place, not evidence,” he said.

“It was a mere statement, and a most damning one made in the absence of Anwar Ibrahim.

“Further, it was not an ingredient of the offence for the identity of the actor to be proven.

“The magistrate obviously did not carry out his duty,” said the legal eagle, who is also DAP national chairperson.

The lead counsel for Anwar in the ongoing Sodomy II trial said what was allowed to transpire court that day was “horrendous” and transgressed “rules of natural justice”.

“It is fundamental that one should not be condemned in his absence,” he explained.

“The damage done to the reputation of Anwar Ibrahim is irreparable.”

Precedent must be avoided

Karpal demanded the chief justice (CJ) take action against the magistrate for failing his duty to ensure that an external party was not implicated in the course of the trial, to ensure that it did not set a precedent.

“The judicial process cannot be allowed to sink into disrepute,” he said.

As such, the CJ ought to mitigate the damage done by issuing a public statement to condemn the errors that transpired, he said.

Anwar (right) has meanwhile condemned the matter saying, “I had expected they would use this court to cast fitnah (false accusation) against me and they would be let off with a light sentence.

“All this is pre-planned with (AG) Abdul Gani behind it…”

Meanwhile on the matter of Anwar’s sodomy trial in which his team was appealing on the matter of the recusal of Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah as the presiding judge, Karpal said that the Court of Appeal had on June 23 informed them that they had missed the 10-day appeal time-frame.

“The law on the subject is clear. Section 54(1)(a) of the Interpretation Acts, 1948 and 1967 provides the day on which the record of appeal was served is not to be computed for the purposes of determining the 10-day period,” he said.

This, he argued, meant that their petition of appeal dated June 24 was legally within the period as the record of appeal was served on Jun 14.