Aide alleges sodomy: Report lodged
Jun 28, 08 11:03pm
A police report has been lodged against PKR
MCPXde facto leader Anwar Ibrahim for allegedly sodomosing one of his aides - the second time that such an accusation had been made in over 10 years.
The report was lodged by the 23-year-old alleged victim at the Jalan Travers police station at 6pm.
KL police chief Muhammad Sabtu Osman confirmed that the report had been made.The man has been sent to Hospital Kuala Lumpur for a medical examination.
"Yes, we have received a police report from an aide of Anwar Ibrahim that he was sodomised. But no, we will not arrest Anwar at the moment," added deputy federal police chief Ismail Omar."We will investigate this report first. We will look into it and carry out the necessary steps before issuing any warrant of arrest," he was quoted by AFP.
It is learnt that Anwar met with a number of party leaders at an emergency meeting late tonight.
At 11.15pm, PKR sent out an SMS message stating that the police had detained Anwar's special aide Saiful Bahari this afternoon and forced him to lodge a police report about being sodomised by his boss.It added that the police are expected to arrest Anwar soon.Meanwhile, Anwar is expected to comment on this latest crisis at a pre-arranged press conference tomorrow.
The press conference is scheduled to be held after a meeting between Anwar and all PKR members of parliament and state assemblypersons.
Anwar expecting the worst
Party sources said that Anwar was chairing a party supreme council meeting at a hotel in Shah Alam when he received an SMS at about 9pm on Saturday night about the police report lodged against him.He apparently then told the party leaders that his aide Saiful had been missing for two days."He then received another SMS at about 9.30pm and his face changed dramatically after reading that SMS," a party insider told Malaysiakini."He did not reveal the details of the SMS but merely said that the situation was very serious," added the insider.Anwar is said to have left the supreme council meeting to meet his lawyers until about 11pm.The council however continued their meeting without Anwar.Party leaders are saying that they have to be prepared for any eventuality.
DAP's veteran leader Lim Kit Siang wrote in his blog that he had spoken to Anwar over the phone and that the PKR leader was expecting the worst.Press statement at 1.30am
Anwar issued a press statement at about 1.30am, saying that the report lodged against him was a "complete fabrication".The following his statement in full:"The police report lodged against me earlier today is a complete fabrication. I believe we are witnessing a repeat of the methods used against me in 1998 when false allegations were made under duress. This is clearly a desperate attempt by the Barisan Nasional regime to arrest the movement of the Malaysian people towards freedom, democracy and justice. "The report has been organised by interested parties to attack me in retaliation for evidence I have recently obtained implicating IGP (inpector-general of police) Musa Hassan and the AG (attorney-general) Gani Patail in misconduct including fabrication of evidence in the cases launched against me in 1998-1999. This vile attack will not prevent me from releasing this dossier to the public. "I urge the Malaysian people to stand against the repressive forces that will be unleashed by the government in the coming days and weeks. We expect the media, the judiciary and the police force to all come under the direct and unchecked control of the executive. "My fellow Malaysians - we took a bold step forward on March 8 towards a new dawn for freedom and justice for all of our citizens. This people's movement for change must go on with all of our strength and conviction."
Accused of sodomy in 1997
Meanwhile, at about 1am about 400 people had gathered outside the hotel in Shah Alam to ensure that nothing happened to Anwar.
The party leaders and Anwar's lawyer SN Nair also held a press conference at the Shah Alam hotel at about 1.30am where they distributed Anwar's statement. Anwar, a former deputy prime minister and finance minister of Malaysia, was sacked from the government in 1997 for allegedly being involved in sodomy and abuse of power.
In 1999, he was sentenced in a highly controversial trial to six years in prison for corruption, and in 2000, to another nine years for alleged homosexual acts.
However in 2004, the Federal Court - the country's highest court - reversed the second conviction and he was released.
Anwar has always maintained that the charges were a government hatched political conspiracy against him, a move denied by the government.
