Former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim will submit fresh evidence o­n March 18 to support his case when the Federal Court hears his application to review his conviction and sentence for corruption.

The fresh evidence is based o­n information contained in letters that lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon had written to Anwar's lawyers Zainur Zakaria and Christopher Fernando.

Another of Anwar's lawyers, Sankara Nair, said at a press conference today that Manjeet had filed an affidavit in the afternoon at the Federal Court registry, in relation to the fresh evidence.

He said Manjeet had written to Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, complaining about High Court judge S Augustine Paul ( photo ), and then to Zainur informing him about this letter. A third letter was a response to Fernando, who had sought clarification o­n the information provided to Zainur.

The Federal Court will hear Anwar's application for leave to seek judicial review of its own decision that had upheld the High Court verdict o­n April 14, 1999.

Information from letter

Sankara said Anwar's application to the Federal Court was filed o­n March 10 seeking to use the new evidence, should the court allow his leave application. Copies of the application and affidavit have since been served o­n the Attorney-General's Chambers.

In his affidavit, Anwar said he had discovered the new evidence recently after Manjeet filed a formal complaint o­n Feb 17 against Paul for his conduct during the contempt proceedings against Zainur.

Paul sentenced Zainur to six months jail after finding him guilty of contempt for filing an application to disqualify senior prosecutors Abdul Gani Patail ( photo ) - now the attorney-general, and Azahar Mohamed. The decision was overturned by the Federal Court last year.

The evidence Anwar is seeking to adduce is related to a meeting between Manjeet, his lawyer Jagjeet Singh, former attorney-general Mohtar Abdullah ( photo) - now a Federal Court judge and is in hospital, Abdul Gani and Azahar.

They had allegedly met at the ante room of the Federal Court o­n the same day that the contempt proceedings against Zainur were being heard.

'Serious allegation'

In the affidavit which was distributed to reporters today, Anwar alleged: "Upon seeing Manjeet, Mohtar went up and hugged him and turned around and told Gani and Azahar that Manjeet was an altruist. (Manjeet) said Mohtar apologised for not doing anything o­n (his) letter in which he had leveled accusations against Gani and Azahar.

"Mohtar added that he had yet to take up the matter with his officers. Manjeet responded by reminding Mohtar that he had made a serious allegation against his officers and had written to (Mohtar) expecting something to be done, but (that) nothing had been done."

Anwar also said that the letter to which Manjeet had referred was the official complaint against Abdul Gani and Azahar "for attempting to extort fabricated evidence from (S Nallakaruppan)" through his lawyer Manjeet to be used against Anwar in exchange for Nallakaruppan's life.

"Mohtar did not deny or refute Manjeet's allegations against his officers while both Gani and Azahar remained silent," said Anwar in his affidavit.

He said this evidence was pertinent and relevant to his corruption case because Paul had dismissed his application to disqualify Abdul Gani and Azahar by concluding that there was nothing to show that the two prosecutors had asked Nallakaruppan to provide false evidence.

During the trial in the Kuala Lumpur High Court, it was revealed that Abdul Gani and Azahar had offered to reduce a firearms charge against Manjeet's client, Nallakaruppan, in exchange for false testimonies against Anwar involving sexual improprieties.

Nallakaruppan was Anwar's tennis partner and was facing the death penalty under the Internal Security Act for unlawful possession of ammunition. The charge was amended to a reduced o­ne under the Arms Act, which carries a maximum seven-year sentence. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three and a half years jail, but was released after his appeal succeeded in August 1999.

Anwar contended that Paul was wrong in making such a finding because it was beyond dispute that Abdul Gani and Azahar were involved in the "conspiracy" against him.

Anwar was jailed for six years in April 1999 for abusing his powers by tampering with police investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct against him. He denies all charges brought against him.