That looks like a bug in B::Deparse for perl 5.8.x to me — not a bug in Perl. What versions are the module?

Using ActivePerl 5.8.0 (build 804), $B::Deparse::VERSION is 0.63, this:

D:\programs\activeperl\Perl\bin>perl -MO=Deparse -e "$;='#';$a=$;;prin
+t $a"
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produces:

$; = '#';
$a = $;
print $a;
-e syntax OK

Same bug. Yet the code works:

D:\programs\activeperl\Perl\bin>perl -le "$;='#';$a=$;;print $a"
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resulting in:

#

So it's not a parsing bug. It's a deparsing bug.