>Lead defence counsel Raja Aziz Addruse told the Court of Appeal today that Special Branch director Mohd Said Awang was not a credible witness.

"Once a person has said he might lie in court, that part of his credibility must go and the defence be given the benefit of doubt," Aziz said.

Aziz is representing sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in his appeal against his corruption conviction. The appeal which is being heard by Court of Appeal President Lamin Yunus and two other judges, Ahmad Fairuz and Mokhtar Sidin, began yesterday.

Mohd Said had told the court during Anwar's corruption trial that he might, depending on the situation, be "prepared to lie" in order to carry out instructions from his superior officers.

Aziz added that during cross examination, Awang had either evaded or failed to answer questions posed to him by the defence.

At this juncture, judge Lamin Yunus interrupted and asked: "Are you saying that he would lie all the time?"

Aziz replied that Mohd Said was a liar although he was unsure if the former SB director would lie all the time.

Lamin warned the counsel to be careful in his approach as a person "cannot be condemned a liar all the time".

Aziz also told the court the defence was not permitted to present its case properly after they were stopped from adducing evidence on police conspiracy, political conspiracy and mala fide (bad faith).

Judge Augustine Paul had, at the start of the trial, allowed the defence to address these issues.

The counsel argued further that disallowing some witnesses crucial to the defence by Paul constituted a miscarriage of justice. The judge had barred 10 defence witnesses from taking the stand.

One such witness, according to defence lawyer Christopher Fernando, is an American citizen of Lebanese birth who was apparently approached to fabricate evidence against Anwar.

The other witness is a middle-aged man who recorded a telephone conversation between Anwar's former political secretary's sister, Ummi Hafilda Ali and a businessman.

During the corruption trial, the defence adduced evidence that the conversation, which took place in London, detailed the conspiracy to topple Anwar from power. Application by the defence to play the tape in court was rejected by Paul.

Aziz pointed out that inconsistent evidence adduced through some key prosecution witnesses like Said Awang and Azizan Abu Bakar have been "explained away by the learned judge by rationalising while evidence favourable to the defence was disregarded".

Azizan, former driver to Anwar's wife, Azizah Ismail, wrote letters to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad alleging he was repeatedly sodomised by Anwar at the behest of Ummi.


Azizan and Ummi had later retracted their letters and said their allegations were false and based on mere suspicion.

Pointing out that both Ummi and Azizan had been subjected to the process known as "turning over" by the Special Branch, Aziz said their "statements cannot be relied on, least of all to secure a criminal conviction."


The "turning over" process involved the use of threats and coercion, the application of psychological pressure and trickery during interrogation on those arrested by the police, Aziz said.

In a further argument, Aziz told the court that numerous rulings made by Paul pointed to the judge's lack of objectivity and disabled the defence from presenting their case fully.

"The frequent interference by the learned judge hampered the conduct of the defence," Aziz submitted.

The defence is expected to finish their submissions tomorrow after which the prosecution will present their submissions. Fernando said he expects the appeal hearing to go on until next Tuesday.

Anwar, who has been forced out of political office after his shock dismissal from power, is currently serving a six-year jail term for corruption relating to abuse of power while in office.

He also stands trial, with adopted brother Sukma Dermawan Sasmitaat Madja, for sodomy and sexual misconduct.

Anwar had repeatedly denied all charges and says they were trumped up to end his political career.


Meanwhile, 28 pro-reformasi supporters who were detained for allegedly organising an illegal demonstration outside the National Mosque last September would claim trial. Their court case will be heard on May 8-17.

Those arrested include Anwar's former political secretary Azmin Ali, KeADILan youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor and vice president Tian Chua, activists Ruslan Kassim and Hishamuddin Rais and PRM legal adviser R. Sivarasa.