The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court dismissed jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's adopted brother Sukma Dermawan Sasmitaat Madja of a perjury charge this morning.

Judge Akhtar Tahir dropped the charge after counsel Gobind Singh Deo objected to deputy public prosecutor Tun Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah's request for a further postponement of the trial pending Sukma's appeal in a sodomy trial at the Court of Appeal.

"It is not right for the court to wait for the appeals to be heard as we do not know how long it would take," Akhtar said.

"Therefore, the accused is discharged, not amounting to an acquittal."

Sukma, 39, an Indonesian, was charged with giving false evidence in an affidavit affirmed by him on Aug 10, 1998.

The charge under Section 193 of the Penal Code carries a maximum three years' jail and a fine upon conviction.

False statements

In September 1998, Sukma pleaded guilty to having been sodomised by Anwar and was sentenced to six months in prison. He served the jail sentence. However, he later retracted his confession stating that he was severely ill-treated and coerced into giving false statements.

Sukma was also found guilty, on Aug 8 last year, of sodomising Anwar's wife's former driver, Azizan Abu Bakar, and abetting Anwar to sodomise Azizan.

He was sentenced to six years in jail and two strokes of the rotan by the High Court on each charge. The jail sentences are to run concurrently. Sukma is currently out on bail pending his appeal to the Court of Appeal.