Hearing into Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II conviction review application began in the Federal Court in Putrajaya today, nine months after he started serving his five-year jail term, with his lawyers continuing to cry the conviction as a political conspiracy.

Senior lawyer and former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram submitted, in his argument to call former top cop Ramli Yusof to testify as a witness, that three key players in the Sodomy I case were also at play in Sodomy II.

Gopal named the three as former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan, former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail and former senior assistant commissioner I Mohd Rodwan Ismail (who then was Najib’s aide de camp).

Musa was the investigating officer in Sodomy I, while Gani was part of the prosecution team and Rodwan was the person who brought in the mattress, allegedly containing Anwar's DNA, in the Sodomy I case in 1998.

Gopal said Ramli's evidence came to light on May 27 this year when the former Commercial Crime Investigations Department director testified in Rosli Dahlan's suit against the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and others in what is known as the ‘Copgate’ affair .

Ramli ( photo ) testified last May that he did not want to conspire with Musa and Gani to fabricate evidence in the black eye incident of 1998, which arose after former IGP Abdul Rahim Noor hit Anwar.

"I refused to do it as they (Musa and Gani) told me to lodge a police report that Anwar inflicted the injuries on his own.

"I told Musa and Gani off as they were also on the 30th floor of Bukit Aman on the night Anwar was assaulted and that I would not lodge the police report," Ramli testified, adding that he also warned the investigator of the black-eye incident, Mat Zain Ibrahim, to be careful of Musa and the possibility of evidence being fabricated.

Gopal said this evidence was not there before for the defence to prove the long-standing fact of political conspiracy against the applicant (Anwar).

Anwar's Sodomy II appeal was heard between October and November last year. The decision was made by a five-member bench of the Federal Court, led by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria, who read out the judgment upholding Anwar's conviction and jail sentence on Feb 10 this year.

Gopal ( photo ), a retired Federal Court judge, said Anwar is considered the biggest political threat to the present prime minister (Najib Abdul Razak).

"My client has been victimised as he is a well known politician and in this case, the complainant (Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan) had met with him (Najib)

"He also called Musa and met with Rodwan (at a hotel) before the alleged sodomy incident. Gani was also involved as he had apply to transfer the case from the Sessions Court to the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.

"Gani was also involved in appointing Shafee (Muhammad Shafee Abdullah) as the prosecutor," Gopal said.

This showed that the three who were involved in the Sodomy I case also played a role in the Sodomy II charge and in the claim of political conspiracy, the lawyer said.

If there is any rebuttal to Ramli's evidence, Gopal said, then Gani should have filed an affidavit for this purpose but he did not. In this application, the affidavit was only filed by DPP Mohd Hanafiah Zakaria.

This is just hearsay, says prosecution

DPP Hanafiah said what Ramli had said was merely hearsay, as what he related was based on what Musa had allegedly told him.

"What Ramli said is based on hearsay evidence, as what he alleges is that (the late AG) Mohtar Abdullah and Gani had asked him (to lodge a report claiming Anwar injured himself) and that he was only informed of this by Musa.

"This evidence is based on hearsay and there is no need to call Gani to make an affidavit," Hanafiah said.

To this, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum said it is Musa who should be the one making the affidavit, to which Hanafiah agreed.

However, Hanafiah told the apex court that he had dealt the case from the start and there was no involvement by Musa in the Sodomy II case.

The DPP further said no fresh evidence has been adduced with regard to Sodomy II and that similar evidence was adduced from Mat Zain during the earlier hearing before the Court of Appeal, but this was not taken up by the defence.

At the Court of Appeal, it was made through an affidavit by Mat Zain to disqualify Shafee," he said.

This information was available then, and the issue of it being given zero weight then, so why bring up the issue again, Hanafiah asked, adding that the argument that the 2008 incident involved political conspiracy was too remote.

"Musa was not involved in the 2008 investigations. I have personal knowledge as I was involved from the start of the prosecution," Hanafiah said.

Gopal then argued that the court had the inherent jurisdiction, under Rule 137, to call Ramli and to ensure justice in this case as this was not a trivial issue.

Chief Judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin said the five-member bench would deliver its decision on this issue at a yet to be determined date.

The five-member bench led by Justice Zulkefli and Malanjum, along with Federal Court judges Hasan Lah, Abu Samah Nordin and Zaharah Ibrahim, are likely to hear the review application as the other Federal Court judges were involved in hearing and ruling on Anwar's appeal against the Court of Appeal conviction of him for sodomising Saiful Bukhari.