The prosecution in a bail application hearing involving jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has contented that he may breach the law if released on bail.

Objecting to Anwar's bail application, the Attorney-General's Chambers stated that there is nothing to guarantee that Anwar will not commit any offence while free on bail.

Anwar and Sukma are seeking bail pending their appeals against the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision to convict them for sodomising Azizan Abu Bakar.

In 2001, Anwar was jailed nine years while Sukma received six years' imprisonment and four strokes of the rotan.

The application was set for hearing today, but was adjourned to next Tuesday as one of the lead lawyers, Karpal Singh, was indisposed.

In a sworn affidavit-in-reply, deputy public prosecutor Tun Majid Tun Hamzah said: "As no one can predict what happens in the future, the probability of the applicant (Anwar) committing any offence or breach the laws, if he is freed on bail cannot be guaranteed at this point of time."

The document was served on Anwar's counsel last Friday evening

Similar reasoning

The prosecution tendered a similar reason in objecting to the bail application by Anwar's co-accused Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja.

They said there is nothing to guarantee that the Indonesian-born businessman would not jump bail considering that his conviction and sentence have now been affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

Tun Majid also disagreed with the applicants' contention that their appeals would take some time before the Federal Court disposes of the cases.

"The preparation of the appeals record to the Federal Court now only require the full written judgment by the Court of Appeal to complete it. This will not take a long time," he said.

'Affidavit inadmissible'

Anwar's lawyer Sankara Nair told malaysiakini

that there were no plans to reply to the prosecution's affidavits, claiming that these had been filed out of time and was therefore inadmissible.

"We filed the (bail) application two months ago and the hearing has already started. Legally, they must file their replies before the hearing begins," he said.

"They could have sought time to make the reply but they didn't, so they are deemed to have accepted our affidavits."

He said the matter would be raised in court come Tuesday, which will be exactly three months after the bail applications were made.

Sukma's lawyer Gobind Singh also said he has yet to decide whether or not to reply to the prosecution's affidavit.

He said he had raised the issue (on the prosecution's failure to reply) previously and Attorney- General Abdul Gani Patail (photo ) had stated that they did not reply because the submission would be based purely on the law.

"So I don't think it's right for them to come in this late with the reply," Gobind said when contacted.

In a related development, Sankara disclosed that he had filed an affidavit on July 8 to strengthen the bail application.

In it, the lawyer stated that there were a total of 84 appeals pending before the Federal Court as at May 31, of which 39 cases involve capital punishment.

The number of pending cases would give an indication just how long it will take the court to dispose of Anwar's appeal up to the Federal Court level, he added.