KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his counsel, S. N. Nair, were informed the Opposition leader's arrest in 2008 under Section 377B of the Penal Code was to facilitate police investigations on a sodomy case, the High Court heard Friday.
Superintendent Ahmad Taufik Abdullah, of the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman, said in a trial-within-a-trial on Anwar's sodomy's case that the investigations were based on a report lodged by Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
The Serious Crime Division (D9) officer -- the only rebuttal witness called by the prosecution -- reiterated that he informed Nair when the lawyer approached him after he (Ahmad Taufik) and his (police) team stopped Anwar's car at Jalan Segambut about 1pm on July 16, 2008.
The witness also told the court that Anwar was informed under which section (of the law) he was detained while the accused was driven to the Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent Headquarters (IPK KL).
During examination-in-chief by Solicitor-General II Datuk Mohamed Yusof Zainal Abiden, Ahmad Taufik said the warrant of arrest was handed over to him by investigating officer Deputy Superintendent Jude Blaciuos Pereira and it was served on Anwar at the police station.
He added Anwar acknowledged it by signing on the warrant and he (Ahmad Taufik) made a copy before handing it back to Pereira.
Asked when the warrant was issued, Ahmad Taufik replied it was on July 15, by the Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court.
Queried further by Mohamed Yusof on whether he just showed the warrant or read out its contents, the witness said he did both.
At this juncture, Karpal objected to Mohamed Yusof's application to tender a photocopy of the warrant on the grounds that it was a secondary evidence.
After a brief argument, Mohamed Yusof conceded to mark it only as ID and would make a submission at the end of the trial-within-a-trial.
Asked further who gave the order to arrest Anwar, Ahmad Taufik said it was Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin.
"He instructed me to make the arrest if Anwar, who was on his way from Putrajaya (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters) failed to head to IPK KL," he added.
Cross-examined by counsel Karpal Singh who contended that there were two arrests on that day on Anwar, Ahmad Taufik explained that arrest was carried out at Jalan Segambut and the warrant served at IPK KL.
He disagreed with Karpal that he was lying that he had informed Nair on the grounds of arrest, whereas Nair in his testimony repeatedly said the arresting officer did not do so.
Re-examined by Mohamed Yusof, Ahmad Taufik said he had no reason not to inform Nair on the grounds of arrest.
Friday's hearing also saw heated arguments between the prosecution and defence teams when Anwar was recalled by the prosecution to clarify his witness statement under Section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and on the warrant of arrest.
Anwar told the court he could recall signing some documents at the meeting room at the IPK KL.
Asked by Mohamed Yusof to go through his original witness statement, Anwar confirmed that the statement was recorded on July 16 and 17, 2008 and he did sign at each page of the statement.
He admitted Ahmad Taufik had informed him on the arrest under Section 377B, but he insisted to the officer on the grounds of his arrest.
Cross-examined by Karpal, whether at any time Pereira had told him about the grounds of his arrest, Anwar once again said that he had asked Pereira on his arrest, but no grounds were given accept that the charge was read out to him.
Asked further by Karpal on the original witness statement and the photocopy of the statement, Anwar said there were discrepancies between the two documents.
Anwar said that on the first page of the original witness statement, there were his signature and Pereira's, with their names. However, in the copies, signatures were missing.
Another defence witness, lawyer R. Sivarasa, who was with Anwar when he was detained at the IPK KL, told the court that he rushed to the police headquarters upon hearing that Anwar was detained.
He said that he too, followed Anwar to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH) after he was told by Pereira that the police wanted to bring Anwar to the hospital for medical examination.
Sivarasa, the Subang member of parliament, said that Anwar had sought his advice on Pereira's request for blood sample, following which he had discussions with other counsels present at KLH before advising Anwar to decline the request.
After Sivarasa concluded his evidence, Karpal informed the court that he wanted to call three others witnesses, including former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Musa Hassan and former home minister Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar.
Mohamed Yusof, when met later, after both parties met trial judge Justice Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah in his chambers, said Karpal had decided to withdrew his application to call the three witnesses.
Mohamd Zabidin set Monday for both parties to submit on the trial-within-a-trial before making a ruling on the defence's application.
-- BERNAMA