Malaysian police to keep investigating Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police will continue investigating sodomy claims against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, despite a leaked medical report he said had vindicated him, news reports said Wednesday.

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the medical report was part of "a whole chain of evidences" which police were investigating, the Star daily reported.

The leaked report showed no evidence that Anwar's accuser had been sodomised.

The opposition leader has said the sodomy allegations have been fabricated to derail his bid for power.

"We have to let the police complete their investigations, submit their investigating papers to the prosecutor and let the prosecutor decide if there is a case," the home minister was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Anwar has said that the allegations by a young male aide, a repeat of charges that saw him jailed a decade ago, have been made up to block his plans to topple the coalition that has ruled Malaysia for half a century.

He demanded the police stop the investigation and called the young aide, 23-year-old Mohamad Saiful Bukhari Azlan, an "outright liar" who was working with others in power to frame him.

Syed Hamid denied Anwar's accusation and said that it would be very "irrational for the government to create a case of this nature, at this time, against such a person."

Mohamad Saiful, who was a volunteer at Anwar's office, said he was sexually assaulted at a luxury condo and is now under police protection.

Sodomy even between consenting adults is a crime punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment in mostly Muslim Malaysia.

Anwar was arrested earlier this month and spent a night in custody before being released on police bail.

The former deputy premier was sacked in 1998 before being jailed on sodomy and corruption charges, but the sodomy conviction was overturned by the nation's highest court in 2004.

He has said he plans to return to parliament later this year if a court orders a by-election near his home town.

- AFP/yb
Channel NewsAsia
30/07/08