The High Court today rejected Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's bid to obtain medical notes and samples from three Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) doctors involved in his sodomy case.

NONE Justice Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah ( left ) ruled that there was no provision or legal basis for such documents to be supplied to the defence.

"Therefore, I hereby dismiss the application," he said after hearing arguments from both parties this morning.

The trial is set to resume on July 14, after the end of the current parliamentary sitting, which Anwar is attending as Permatang Pauh MP.

In an immediate reaction, defence counsel Karpal Singh said Anwar would appeal today's latest setback.

"We will file a notice of before the Court of Appeal on Monday."

Anwar has sought to obtain all medical and other reports prepared by the three HKL doctors.

His high-powered legal team had on June 4 applied for all clinical notes, reports, materials, specimens and other notes on the case compiled by the three HKL doctors.

NONE He also applied for the complete medical history of his accuser, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, compiled during Saiful's examination at the hospital. In addition, the lawyers are asking the prosecution to hand over the standard sexual assault equipment and kits used in the examination.

The defence was also seeking information on the qualification and experience of the three doctors who attended to Saiful - Dr Khairul Nizam Hassan, Dr Mohd Razali Ibrahim and Dr Siew Sheue Feng.

Australian forensic expert needs reports

An Australian forensic expert hired by the defence, Dr David Wells, had earlier complained that he would not be able to do his job unless such documents were at hand.

T azlan he Victoria Institute of Forensic Medicine professor said his capacity to advise the defence team would be “severely compromised” by the absence of the documents.

The standard procedure in criminal cases is for the prosecution to provide all documentary evidence to the defence before the start of a trial.

However, the Federal Court had ruled that it was not necessary to do so in this case as the defence can make an application for the evidence to be handed over during the trial.

This restrictive ruling means that if Anwar's defence wants to obtain the necessary documents or any other evidence, it would have to submit an application, hence this notice of motion.

Karpal, in his submission today for the required documents to be handed over, said since the Federal Court had ruled that the application should be made in the course of the trial, the High Court needed to consider it.

Federal Court judge Abdull Hamid Embong in his Jan 29 decision had said the application could be made during the commencement of the trial and during not pre-trial.

Karpal also submitted that based on Article 5 of the Federal Constitution, which states that no person should be deprived of his personal liberty, it was Anwar's right to get the documents to ensure he got a fair trial.

However, solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden called for the application to be dismissed as no specific law was cited in support of the application.

Furthermore, Mohd Yusof submitted, the documents could not be produced as they had not been tendered as evidence.

“If they want the documents, they should during cross-examination ask the witnesses to provide them,” he said.

“Similarly, with regard to their qualifications, we have already asked the second witness (Dr Mohd Razali), and such matters can be asked in cross-examination,” he said, adding that Anwar's application was clearly misconceived and should therefore be dismissed.