Affair claim is true

Judge Mohammad Zabidin Diah said the relationship between Saiful Bukhari Azlan and Farah Azlina Latif was presumably true, but agreed with the prosecution that the affair did not affect the prosecution to the extent that it compromised the integrity of the trial. -- PHOTO: SIN CHEW DAILY

KUALA LUMPUR- A MALAYSIAN judge said on Monday he considered allegations of an affair between a government prosecution lawyer and the man who accused opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy to be true.

Anwar insists the sodomy charge against him should be dropped after an opposition-linked activist claimed last month that a young female prosecution attorney in the trial had a recent affair with Anwar's accuser, a 25-year-old male former aide. Neither of them has directly responded to the allegation.

Anwar faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of sodomising his ex-aide, Saiful Bukhari Azlan. He insists the government concocted the charge in 2008 to sideline him after his opposition alliance made unprecedented electoral gains. Government authorities deny conspiring against Anwar.

High Court Judge Mohamad Zabidin Diah ruled on Monday that the prosecution team in the trial had accepted the allegations of an affair to be true because it did not directly confirm or deny them. 'The court must accept what is stated as true,' he said.

However, Mohamad Zabidin rejected Anwar's request for the charge to be dropped, saying the affair claim did not compromise the prosecution's integrity. Prosecution lawyers have argued that Farah Azlina Latif had been a junior member of the team and never had important documents in her possession.

Malaysia's attorney general ordered Farah removed from the case last month. He said although there was no proof to support the claim of an affair, the move would protect the prosecution's credibility. The defence claims Farah might have leaked confidential information to Mr Saiful, who should not have access to prosecution strategies. Anwar's lawyers said they would appeal Judge Mohamad Zabidin's decision on Monday. -- AP