The saga surrounding Anwar Ibrahim's lengthy sodomy trial took yet another twist on Wednesday when his lawyers were accused of having a hand in two disputed statutory declarations implicating Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife.

In his police report , Anwar's former aide Rahimi Osman said that PKR lawyers Latheefa Koya and Saiful Izham Ramli had forced him to sign the declarations.

The little-known 25-year-old, worked for Anwar from 2007 to 2008.  

In an interview yesterday, Latheefa, who is also PKR information chief, traced the events surrounding the signing of the two refuted declarations, beginning on June 28, 2008.

    

Saiful Bukhari's police report

According to Latheefa, it was just three months after the Pakatan Rakyat won five states in the 2008 general election, and the PKR leadership was in the middle of a leadership seminar at Quality Hotel, Shah Alam.

    

The seminar came to a sudden halt on Saturday, June 28 when Anwar’s then chief of staff Ibrahim Yaakob got word that a police report had been lodged against his boss.

    

anwar quality hotel 270608 crowd “There was a lot of panic and a sense of disbelief that this was happening again.

"News leaked out and in no time the place was packed with supporters and reporters. We feared that Anwar would be taken away suddenly like in 1998,” said Latheefa.

    

In the midst of the panic, PKR lawyers including Latheefa, Saiful Izham and R Sivarasa were instructed to find out more about the report.

    

They started with those closest to the complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

    

It was then that they had tried to contact Saiful Bukhari’s schoolmate, then 23-year-old Rahimi Osman, who was no longer Anwar’s aide at that point but was still helping out at events including the leadership seminar.

    

“He was uncontactable for a while, and then he called someone to say that he was at Hospital Kuala Lumpur and that Saiful (Bukhari) was undergoing a check-up,” she said.

    

Rahimi was ‘nervous’

According to Latheefa, Rahimi had come to the hotel voluntarily and had asked if he could stay there.

“He said he wanted to stay at the hotel because he knew Saiful (Bukhari) mentioned his name and there was strong fear (following what happened in 1998 to Anwar’s aides).

“We were on one of the upper floors, in a private lounge and there were (security personnel) all over the hotel.

“Rahimi was nervous and we wanted to make sure he tak kena cekup (would not be taken away),” she said.

NONE It was then that Saiful Izham drafted the first statutory declaration that Latheefa said “did not have too many details as (Rahimi) was not ready to say” many things.

Rahimi ( left ) however disputes this in his police report, saying instead that both Latheefa and Saiful Izham had forced him to stay in Quality Hotel for several days.

Yesterday, Saiful Izham, who is also Kedah PKR Youth chief, however told the press that Rahimi had given the information voluntarily and had made several changes to the declaration.

Latheefa added that Rahimi had stayed at Quality Hotel along with many other PKR members, although she cannot recall if he had a room of his own or was sharing.

“I remember that he had even gone out with others to watch a football match at a stadium if I recall correctly. He was less nervous as the days went by,” she said.

The second statutory declaration

Several days after Saiful Bukhari’s police report, the police called up Rahimi to take some statements; Rahimi was  accompanied by lawyer Srikand Pillay.

azlan “They only asked him basic questions. But when they called him up a second time, we were worried that they might force him to say things so we started drafting a second statutory declaration based on what he claims Saiful (Bukhari) had told him,” said Latheefa.

She admitted that both statutory declarations have been “misplaced” and that she cannot be certain of their contents.

She also cannot confirm if any of the conversations with Rahimi was recorded on video, adding that he was not questioned in one session.

“We had called him every time we needed more information, and he even sat in on several of our defence team meetings to fill us in.

“Not everything that Rahimi had told us was distilled into the (second) declaration,” she said.

The second declaration was drafted by several lawyers including Latheefa and Sivarasa, with Rahimi present at the PKR headquarters in Tropicana.

Links with Mumtaz  

“It was in a glass room and it was almost impossible for us to have forced him without anyone seeing. The main issue then was to get him to remember the details, like which restaurant, etc," said Latheefa.

“He was very very concerned about ‘covering’ for Mumtaz (Jaafar) and Rosmah. He said he and Saiful (Bukhari) are childhood friends with Mumtaz’s daughter. I can’t recall mentioning Mumtaz and (Najib's wife) Rosmah in the declaration,” she said.

mumtaz jaafar 120510 Mumtaz Jaafar ( left ), the head of the National Athletics Welfare Foundation and Rosmah Mansor were both mentioned by Saiful Bukhairy in his testimony during Anwar's ongoing sodomy trial.

Latheefah says as far as she recalled, the second statutory declaration is “two to three pages long” and included details on how Rahimi knew Saiful Bukhari.

It also included what Saiful had told Rahimi about his meeting with Najib and ACP Rodhwan Mohd Yusof (now SAC 1) as well as the sodomy incident.

The statutory declaration was signed before a commissioner of oath in the Petaling Jaya State Cinema area, said Latheefa, and not ‘Old Town’ as stated in Rahimi’s police report.

Met Najib without Saiful

Rahimi gave his second police statement on July 23, 2008 accompanied by lawyer Stanley Sinnapan.

Although Sinnapan would not disclose what had transpired due to confidentiality, Latheefah said Rahimi had told her what the police had asked him.

“They asked if he knew Mumtaz and if he had ever met Rosmah,” she said.

najib and saiful bukhari azlan Rahimi told Latheefa that he said he was brought by Mumtaz to meet Rosmah, “although he didn’t really want to go”.  

“He said that later when Najib arrived, Rosmah introduced him as Saiful (Bukhari)’s friend.

“(Rahimi) said that he then wondered how Najib knew his friend and confronted (Saiful Bukhari) about it afterwards,” she said of the meeting that Rahimi says took place on June 25, 2008.  

The complainant claimed that he was sodomised by Anwar the day after, and testified in court that Rahimi had brought him to see former PKR Youth chief Ezam Mohd Nor on June 27.  

Invited to Rahimi wedding

According to Latheefa, Rahimi never asked for a copy of the statutory declarations. In his police report on Wednesday, he claimed that they were withheld from him.

She added that although he was no longer on Anwar’s staff, he was still helping out casually over the few months that followed as well as during the Permatang Pauh by-election campaign.

“He started to not return my calls or text messages when Karpal (Singh) took over as lead counsel in the sodomy trial, after Sulaiman Abdullah pulled out due to illness (on July 15, 2009).

“We thought Karpal might need the statutory declarations, but it turned out he did not,” she said.

She also disputed Rahim's claim in his police report that said: “I did not entertain (Latheefa’s calls) and tried my best to stay away from them.” 

According to the PKR lawyer, despite being incommunicado in July 2009, Rahimi had invited Latheefa to his wedding later that year.

“I did not attend it as I had prior engagements but I know Anwar and many others (from PKR) attended,” she said.

According to Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar, police are investigating the case under Section 199 of the Penal Code.

The section states that those who knowingly give false declarations that can be used in court are considered to be giving false evidence.