Lawyer Gopal Sri Ram said the first was when the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) issued a statement that the judiciary was independent about 15 minutes after the Federal Court affirmed Anwar’s conviction.

“The speed at which the PMO issued the statement implies they knew the outcome of the verdict,” he said in his submission to review the conviction of Anwar.

The former judge, who is now practising law, added that the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad further affirmed in an affidavit that the Government was opposing Anwar’s review application.

“Why oppose my client’s application if the Government and Umno are not involved in the conspiracy?”

He posed this question before a five-man bench led by Justice Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin.

Tengku Sariffuddin, in his affidavit, had clarified that the PMO had prepared two sets of statements, in case Anwar was convicted or freed as it was a public interest case.

“The other statement was not produced and as such the affidavit is partisan in nature,” he added.

The lawyer said it was also not a practice for the Government to issue statements on court verdicts.

Sri Ram said the conduct of ad-hoc deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Shafee Abdullah after the Federal Court judgment also lent credence to the conspiracy theory.

“He attacked Anwar and made reference to proceedings heard in camera at the road show organised by Umno Youth,” he said, adding that the event indicated the party was delighted with the final outcome of the case.

He said Shafee and the complainant, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, were also seen at the residence of Najib Razak, then deputy prime minister, two days before the sodomy took place in June 2008.

“Shafee’s close relationship with Umno and his appointment as DPP was pre-arranged to hoist false evidence to convict Anwar,” he added.

He said Shafee was merely a puppet and the puppet master was elsewhere and this could only be seen after the appeal.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid, in reply, said Tengku Sariffuddin affirmed the affidavit because Anwar had dragged the PMO in the review application.

He said the press statement in no way revealed that the judiciary was muzzled and it was also unnecessary to display the other news release in case Anwar had been freed.

He said Shafee’s conduct during the roadshow was irrelevant because the appeal was over and judgment had been delivered.

Ahmad Kamal reminded the bench that procedure to review a judgment was only on limited grounds and under exceptional circumstances.

“A review should not be used as a ploy to reopen a case,” he said.

The government lawyer said even if the Federal Court last year had applied the wrong law in its decision, it could not be brought under review.

Ahmad Kamal said several issues raise by the defence such as DNA evidence or that a carpet never existed in a condominium unit where the crime took place should have been raised only during appeal.

Zulkefli adjourned judgment for a later date.

Anwar, 69, was initially acquitted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Jan 9, 2012. However, the Court of Appeal reversed the acquittal and sentenced him to five years’ jail on March 7, 2014.

Later, a five-man bench in the Federal Court, chaired by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria, maintained the conviction.

The bench also concluded that there was no break in the chain of evidence, as claimed by Anwar’s lawyers.

Anwar is currently serving his five-year jail sentence at the Sungai Buloh Prison for sexual misconduct against Saiful.