Leaked medical report stirs controversy for Anwar, police

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's supporters said today a leaked medical report that states his accuser was not sodomised, backs his claim of innocence but police have dismissed the report as sabotage and meant to confuse the public.

Anwar himself has not commented on the medical report exposed by Malaysia Today’s editor Raja Petra Kamarudin, who claimed that Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid from Hospital Pusrawi found no signs that Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan had any injuries consistent with sodomy in a June 28 medical report hours before the male aide complained of sexual assault.

But Anwar's wife, Parliamentary Opposition leader Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail joined party supporters to say the medical report proved there was a conspiracy against him, similar to his followers’ claim of a conspiracy a decade ago that cost Anwar a chance to be prime minister.

PKR secretary-general Salehuddin Hashim said the leaked medical report confirm the party's stand that the allegations against their de facto party chief are "without merit and politically motivated". He added that it further erodes public confidence in the police investigations into this case.

"Why has this medical report surfaced only today, over one month after the allegations were made, after Anwar spent a night in jail, and after the police have spent so much time and money on this case?" Salehuddin asked in a press statement issued this evening.

"There should be a complete disclosure of the "facts" of this case to the public. Anything less will further diminish the public's trust in the institutions of governance and in particular, the integrity of the office of the Inspector-General of Police," he added.

He also noted the reports that Dr Mohamed Osman had been interrogated by the police for three days and that, as a result, the doctor and his family have since gone into hiding. "Every assurance must be given for his safety and protection," Salehuddin said.

Wan Azizah told the Malaysiakini news portal that police should investigate the attempt to defame her husband instead of continuing investigations into the sodomy allegation.

"It's a confirmation that it's a conspiracy all along as this report goes to prove Anwar's innocence," said the PKR president.

Anwar’s lawyer Sankara Nair told The Malaysian Insider that the legal team will discuss the latest developments while Hospital Pusrawi is keeping silent on the matter. According to the medical report from the hospital, Dr Mohamed Osman had told Saiful to go to a government hospital for a second opinion.

PKR released the medical report to the media after it first appeared in the Malaysia Today news portal.

When contacted, Raja Petra stood by what he wrote and specifically confirmed that Saiful showed no signs of being sodomised in the medical report. Dr Osman who had been detained by the police, had asked to change the findings of his report and is now in hiding with his family.

He declined to comment on whether he had personally met Dr Osman, saying that whatever was written in Malaysia Today was all that he was ready to reveal at this point.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar told NST Online that police were considering to investigate the news website and a blog over their reports, which referred to a medical report allegedly issued by the hospital in Jalan Tun Razak.

But Ismail declined to comment on the medical report itself, saying investigations are in progress. He also quashed rumours that police have picked up Dr Mohamed Osman.

"Mohamed Osman's statement had been recorded by police earlier on in the investigation. As such, rumours circulating about his arrest by police are untrue," Ismail said.

Anwar has denied Saiful's accusations, saying the 23-year-old university drop-out could be a government plant used to derail his political comeback. However, Saiful has claimed he was sodomised several times, including abroad when he accompanied Anwar. He also claimed to be Anwar's personal aide but PKR has dismissed him as just a volunteer "coffee boy".

source: The Malaysian Insider

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The PM should snap out of his slumber and show the country [and international community] that he is in control. Suspend the police chief and AG, get to the BOTTOM [pun intended] of things, put an end to this farce.

The way he has carried himself on this matter as well as on the allegations that Najib is implicated in the Altantuya case, only signal to all and sundry that he is weak.

He had a hundred and one opportunities to right wrongs in this country, from Lingamgate to Hindraf to sodomy, but each time he failed us. And he failed himself, because these were opportunities to also carve out a lasting legacy of statesmanship.

He should ask himself why he won a landslide victory in the earlier elections... People were relieved to be free of Mahathirism; he had tremendous goodwill as someone who could finally deliver them from Dr M's excesses.

He has not risen to the challenge. Far from it... he slumbers on.