Police say blog article on sodomy medical report speculative, based on hearsay

KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 (Bernama) -- Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said Tuesday an Internet report that a doctor had found no medical evidence of sodomy on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's accuser was intended solely to skew public perception and undermine the police.

He said the article, "Doctor on the Run: Police Want Him to Fabricate Evidence Against Anwar", published in the "Malaysia Today" news portal Monday was based on hearsay, speculative and ascribed imputations which were totally unfair.

"The police want to state categorically that there is no iota of truth in the allegations made in the aforementioned article. At no time during the course of this investigation did the police detain a doctor or force him to fabricate evidence against the suspect," he said in a statement.

He also advised the public not to jump to conclusions without validating the truth of the allegation.

Ismail said police shall not in any way be influenced or intimidated by any party to avert investigation of this case and that police were conducting the investigation professionally and expeditiously.

He said all kinds of allegations were floating around on the case in the blogsphere and it would not be in the best interest of the police to respond to all those accusations as the case was still under investigation.

"The police are conscious of the fact that this case has to be handled fairly and impartially so that the public has confidence in the way in which it is handled," he said.

He said that upon completion of the investigation, the police would present its case to the Attorney General's Chambers.

"The decision on whether to charge a suspect lies entirely with the Attorney General's Chambers, and the police will respect the decision that is made," he said.

Syed Hamid rubbishes claim that sodomy allegation politically motivated
KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 (Bernama) -- Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar Tuesday denounced Parti Keadilan Rakyat advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's accusation that the sodomy allegation against him was political motivated.

He dismissed as rubbish Anwar's claim that the emergence of a medical examination record by a private hospital on Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, now widely circulated on the blogsphere but the validity of which has yet to be established, affirmed the conspiracy theory.

Syed Hamid said there was no necessity for the government to conspire against Anwar and that police investigation into the sodomy allegation made by his former aide, Saiful, was underway.

"No one is framing Anwar. The police will determine the validity of the medical report.

"Why doesn't he (Anwar) let police complete the investigation. Otherwise, he (Anwar) is also equally responsible for speculating," he told reporters after the opening of the International Conference on the Representation of Islam and Muslims in the Media (ICORM08), here Tuesday.

He said the police had been fair in conducting their probe into the sodomy case and would treat the complainants equally, without practising double standards.

"He is not looking at the legal case, but is interested in looking at it as a political dimension. There’s not even a charge against Anwar yet. So, why should he ask the police to stop the investigation?

"I think a piece of evidence should be given to the court during the trial and it is unethical to disclose it in public. You can't yourself be the prosecutor, judge and investigator. We have the court to decide," he said.

Syed Hamid also urged Anwar to give his fullest cooperation to the police, and not use the issue for political debate to win support.

"The police have to complete many things before submitting their investigation papers to the Attorney-General (AG) and it's up to the AG to determine whether there's a prima facie case or not," he said.

Syed Hamid also said that whoever leaked the medical report must take full responsibility as it would jeopardise the police investigation.

"Personally, I don't know anything on the leaked medical report. But disclosing such confidential information is very unprofessional.

"I also don't know how the blogs obtained the medical report. It couldn't just fall from the sky and landed in the blogs," he added.

Monday, an unverified medical report from a private hospital revealed that a thorough medical examination on the 23-year-old Saiful, four hours before he made a police report against Anwar on June 28, was claimed to have no evidence of sodomy.

Saiful was said to be examined by Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid, the medical officer on duty at the Pusrawi Hospital.

However, the police responded by stating that the news reports on the matter was aimed at sabotaging their investigation and confusing the public.

Bernama
30/07/08