Malaysia's ex-deputy PM says Estrada sentence for plunder 'too harsh'

(Updated 4:15 p.m.) Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday said the sentence handed down by the Sandiganbayan on former President Joseph Estrada was "a bit too harsh." The antigraft court on Sept. 12 sentenced Estrada to reclusion perpetua or a jail term of up to four years for the crime of plunder. The court also ordered the forfeiture of his bank accounts amounting to P542.701 million plus interest, and a prime real estate property in favor of the Philippine government. "I followed the case. Of course the trial did consider some pertinent issues of the law… but in terms of the gravity of the conviction or judgment this is another issue, which as a person, I do not necessarily share," Anwar said. "After saying all this, I respect…we are dealing with a different system and different country but I certainly wish him (Estrada) well and hope he will be free… The sentencing to me is a bit too harsh. That is my personal view. I don’t want to be involved in this controversy, you know you have to respect the judgment of the court," he added. Anwar, who says he is a close friend of Estrada, is in the country for the Forum for Democratization in Asia Second Biennial Conference in Manila. In the interview, Anwar also raised the issue of "selective" prosecution of corrupt government officials in the Philippines, saying charging only "one or two… opens to a lot of questions." "Prosecution can not be selective… In the Philippines – corruption – you select one or two and you punish them severely. And if you have ample evidence you charge them and have a fair trial and convict them," Anwar said. Anwar himself was sentenced in 1999 in a highly controversial trial to six years in prison for corruption. In 2000, he was sentenced to another nine years in prison for sodomy. However, in 2004, an appeals court reversed Anwar's second conviction and he was released. Like Estrada in Philippine politics, Anwar is both a controversial and charismatic figure in Malaysian politics. - GMANews.TV