The Bar Council today welcomed Anwar Ibrahim's acquittal by the High Court on his sodomy charge, stressing that the decision was made in accord with the evidence presented.

NONEIn a press statement today, Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee (left) said among the likely issues leading to verdict is the lack of full disclosure before and during the trial.

"The legal team for the defence was denied access to certain documents and physical evidence in the possession of the prosecution, which disadvantaged the accused in the preparation of his defence," Lim said in the statement.

There were also at least two unusual findings during the trial, the first being the trial judge finding the complainant Saiful Bukhary Azlan to be a truthful and credible witness before hearing from the defence.

The second anomaly Lim listed was the court's refusal to allow the defence to subpoena Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor, despite allowing the duo to be interviewed by the defence team.

"The absence of curiosity in this regard casts grave concerns on the credibility of the complaint in the first place," he said.

‘Don't appeal, focus on serious crimes'

The final point raised by Lim involves the unrebutted relationship between Saiful and a member of the prosecution team, which raised serious questions on whether the complainant had access to investigation papers that could influence his testimony.

Lim said the charge against Anwar should never have been made in the first place because it was based on an archaic provision of the Penal Code that criminalises consensual sexual relations between adults.

"The case has unnecessarily taken up judicial time and public funds," he said.

In view of this, Lim added, Malaysian Bar hoped that the Attorney-General's Chambers would not appeal the verdict and instead focus its resources on more serious crimes.

This morning, the High Court ruled that Anwar was not guilty of sodomising his former aide. The full written judgment is yet to be published.