Up to Federal Court bench to allow Anwar more time for sodomy appeal
Only a Federal Court bench can decide whether to allow Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's application for extension of time to file a petition of appeal against his sodomy conviction, said the apex court's corporate communication and international relations head.
Mohd Aizuddin Zolkeply also said that such an application must be made through a notice of motion.
"The application will then be heard by a panel of judges who will decide whether to give an applicant more time," he said in a statement.
Aizuddin said the procedure for extension of time was clearly stated under the Federal Court Rules 1995.
He was responding to a statement by PKR legal bureau head Latheefa Koya yesterday that the Federal Court registry had rejected a written request by Anwar's (pic) lawyers for more time to file his petiton of appeal.
Latheefa said this was despite their awareness that today (Thursday) was the last day for filing the petition.
Latheefa said she was informed of the matter by a lawyer from the legal firm of the late Karpal Singh who was killed in a road accident a week ago.
Karpal was the lead counsel and had appeared for Anwar in the High Court and the Court of Appeal in the sodomy case.
"It is highly inconsiderate and shows a lack of sympathy and understanding over Karpal's tragic death," Latheefa said.
She said it appeared that the Federal Court was bent on rushing the appeal, which could be seen in their refusal to grant an extension of time.
Latheefa, in responding to Aizuddin, said the Federal Court rules did not specifically mention that any extension of time must be made through a formal application.
"We feel more time can be given to Anwar as this is an exceptional case," she said.
She said Anwar was not prepared to take any chances as his appeal to the Federal Court could be knocked out if he opted to file a formal application.
"Today is the last day to file the petition of appeal. What guarantee is there that his application would have been allowed if the court had heard the matter tomorrow?" she asked.
Ramkarpal Singh, who had appeared with Karpal in the sodomy case, said he had written to the Federal Court to ask for an extension of time to file the petition of appeal.
He said he hoped to get a reply on whether the court would allow up to two weeks to file the grounds of appeal.
The Court of Appeal sent the grounds of judgement to Karpal's firm on April 14, which gave them a 10-day deadline.
Karpal, 73, died in a car crash on April 17 along with his personal aide Michael Cornelius at KM301.6 of the North-South Expressway near Kampar in Perak.
On March 7, the Court of Appeal sentenced Anwar to five years' jail after it allowed Putrajaya's appeal to set aside the High Court acquittal.
Putrajaya also filed a cross appeal to seek a longer jail sentence for 66-year-old Anwar.
On the charges, Anwar had always maintained that they were trumped up to stymie his political career. – April 24, 2014.
