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Court to review Anwar graft case

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, SEPT. 7. Malaysia's Federal court in Putrajaya today began hearing a "review application" filed by the former Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, on his conviction and prison sentence on charges of corruption.

Mr. Anwar was released from prison on September 2 after the apex court set aside his conviction and sentence in a separate case relating to allegations of sodomy.

Political observers say the outcome will determine if Mr. Anwar can immediately re-enter politics, which is still out of bounds for him for a mandatory period, due to his conviction in the corruption case.

The corruption case, in which Mr. Anwar lost all appeals, has now been re-opened under a rule of the Federal court that allows it to hear any application to prevent injustice or abuse of court-related processes. Mr. Anwar had served the partially-waived term for the corruption case before he was set free a few days ago in the sodomy case.

He had also served a part of the nine-year imprisonment sentence for the latter case. Shortly after being freed, Mr. Anwar left for Germany for surgery for an injury suffered due to the alleged excesses of the police while in custody.

Objection dismissed

The new turn in the corruption case was made possible by the Federal court's reported dismissal of the preliminary objection raised by the Attorney-General, Abdul Gani Patail.

The objection centred on whether the Federal court could at all hear Mr. Anwar's "review application" against its own decision that upheld his conviction and sentence in this case.

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