Malaysian opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim produced a doctor's report that he said showed his accuser had not been sodomised, as he tries to fend off criminal allegations in his drive to unseat the government.
The former deputy premier turned de facto opposition leader is facing criminal investigations that he had homosexual sex with a former aide last month, in what he says is a trumped-up allegation aimed at scuttling the opposition's rise to power.
A copy of a report, said to be by the doctor who examined the alleged victim after he filed a police report against Anwar, was earlier published by a prominent blogger who has also alleged government links to a high-profile Mongolian murder case.
Anwar said the medical findings showed "the allegations levelled against me are baseless and politically motivated, and that the complainant is an outright liar working hand in glove with those in power to assassinate my character".
"This report makes a mockery of the so-called impartial police investigation, and clearly shows the dubious and persistent attempts to incriminate me by whatever means employable," Anwar told reporters.
Sodomy is a crime punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment in mostly Muslim Malaysia.
Anwar said the doctor who produced the report has gone on leave, citing hospital authorities. Neither the doctor nor his hospital have confirmed that the report Anwar produced on Tuesday was genuine.
Anwar said he was worried about the safety of the doctor who signed the medical report.
"Reports that he and his family may be in danger must not be taken lightly, given earlier instances when key witnesses in high-profile cases in Malaysia have been threatened, coerced or gone missing."
A police official was quoted as saying in The Star newspaper on Tuesday that the doctor had not been arrested.
Home (Interior) Minister Syed Hamid Albar told Reuters on Monday the authorities should finish investigations into Anwar as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary rumours.
The Anwar political melodrama and other scandals containing salacious details of sex, murder and cover-ups involving the government and opposition have wearied investors and sullied the image of one of East Asia's fast-growing emerging economies.
The authorities have not pressed charges against Anwar, but some analysts think the problem could turn an already loose opposition alliance into a rudderless ship.
"It has impacted him as it takes much of his energy... fighting off this sodomy charge," said Lee Hock Guan, senior fellow with Singapore's Institute of South East Asian Studies.
The opposition alliance needs just 30 more seats to win a simple majority and form the government.
Anwar's People's Justice Party had earlier said he was making plans to run for parliament in either Kulim Bandar Baharu in northern Kedah state or Bandar Tun Razak near the Malaysian capital.
The Kulim seat was won by a member of Anwar's party in the March election but the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party wants the court to disqualify him on the grounds that he did not submit his account of expenditure after the last poll in 2004, People's Justice Party spokesman Tian Chua said.
"If the seat's empty we need someone to go and stand and he should be in parliament," Chua said, adding that the court would hear the case on August 19.
Anwar was barred from running for public office until this April because of a conviction for corruption. He was sacked by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 and jailed on what he says were fabricated charges of corruption and sodomy.
A court quashed the sodomy charges and freed Anwar from jail in September 2004, soon after he finished serving the corruption sentence.
One News
New Zealand
29/07/08
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