Anwar Ibrahim's lawyers today filed an application to disqualify all prosecutors in his on going sodomy trial.

The application was based on Anwar's contention that Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail was "biased and/or prejudiced in the prosecution of our client".

NONE "There is a plethora of evidence of our client's contentions that have been provided for by virtue of police reports lodged indicating suppression and/or fabrication of evidence..." said Anwar's lawyer SN Nair in a statement today.

He added that the evidence included the involvement in political conspiracies in respect of the first two cases of sodomy and corrupt practices in 1998 and the black eye incident.

This also included Abdul Gani's stealthy involvement in the matter, added Nair.

He said that all prosecutors worked under the control, direction and instructions of the Attorney-General, and as such, their actions were in no uncertain terms deemed to be that of the Attorney General.

"Furthermore, the Attorney-General's signing of the Section 418A certificate (to prefer the charge) is strongly indicative of the fact that he is the person behind the scenes, pulling and manipulating the strings of the prosecutors to his tune," he added.

Nair said that despite various revelations, police reports and affirmations in various affidavits, the Attorney-General continued and persisted stubbornly in proceeding with the flawed charges in spite of clear and unequivocal evidence to the contrary.

The lawyer said that allowing the Attorney-General to continue to pursue the sodomy action would undoubtedly be tantamount to a travesty of justice.

"It leaves our client with no other choice but to make this application wherein our client will ventilate in full his reasons in order for the court of law to consider," he added.

Bias, misconduct and suppressing evidence

In his application, Anwar, who is the member of parliament for Permatang Pauh and PKR's de facto leader, named the seven prosecutors he wanted to be disqualified.

They are Solicitor-General 1 Idrus Harun who is leading the prosecution team on behalf of the AG, senior prosecution officer Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, prosecution officers Nordin Hassan, Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria, Wong Chiang Kiat, Shamsul Sulaiman and Noorin Badaruddin.

He said that these seven were unqualified to represent the Attorney-General's Chambers to prosecute the sodomy case against him.

He wants the court to order their removal or grant a prohibition against them for appearing on behalf of the AG.

Anwar also stated his reasons in seeking the removal of the prosecutors in his affidavit.

the charge against anwar ibrahim sodomy allegation trial 070808 He said he feared that the prosecutors would act with bias in the case. Alternatively, he said, there was a reasonable apprehension of bias or a real danger of bias on the part of the prosecution team.

He said this was due to the role played by some of the prosecutors in 1998 in his two trials.

He further claimed there were also prosecutorial misconducts in the present sodomy case which prejudiced the case against him.

"There is a continuation of a conspiracy against me perpetrated by the prosecution team," he added in his affidavit.

He also accused the prosecution team of suppressing evidence from him despite requests made for the evidence to be handed over for him to prepare his defence.

Anwar, 62, is charged with sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, 24, at a condominium in Bukit Damansara on June 26, last year.

Anwar has applied to strike out the suit. The court has fixed Sept 2 to mention both this application and the trial proper.