KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 (Bernama) – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's conviction and five years' jail sentence for sodomy means that he can be disqualified as a member of parliament (MP).
The Federal Court today upheld the Court of Appeal's decision to convict and condemn Anwar to jail for sodomising his former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
This is the second time that Anwar can be disqualified as MP after he was found guilty sentenced to six years' jail for corruption on April 14, 1999.
Article 48 (1) (e) of the Federal Constitution states that an MP can be disqualified if he is jailed for more than one year and fined more than RM2,000.
The Federal Court today rejected Anway's appeal to set aside the Court of Appeal's conviction and five years' jail sentence passed on March 7, 2014.
He was charged with sodomising Mohd Saiful,29, at Unit 11-5-1 Kondominium Desa Damansara in Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara, between 3.10 pm and 4.30 pm on June 26 2008.
Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria lead a five-member panel comprising the Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and judges Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong, Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar and Datuk Ramly Ali.
Anwar,66, of Cherok Tok Kun, Bukit Mertajam, Penang first contested the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in the 1982 general election.
Representing the Barisan Nasional (BN), Anwar easily beat Zabidi Ali of PAS with a 14,352 majority vote.
He retained the seat in the following general elections until he was jailed six years' on April 14, 1999 for corruption and was disqualified.
The Permatang seat was then contested and won by his wife, Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in the general election on Nov 10, 1999.
Wan Azizah continued to defend the seat until her resignation on July 31, 2008 to make way for Anwar to contest the seat in a by-election in Aug 2008.
Anwar won the seat by beating Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah (BN) with a majority of 15,671 votes. (BERNAMA)
