Stop the probe, Anwar tells police

Anwar at this morning’s press conference at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya. He is flanked by his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail and Anwar’s lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah. — Picture by Choo Choy May

PETALING JAYA, July 29 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today demanded the police stop their investigations into the sodomy accusations against him in the light of a leaked medical report that found his accuser had no physical evidence of having been sodomised.

"Stop the investigation, forward the report to the Attorney-General's Chambers and classify the case as NFA (no further action)," the de facto opposition leader told a press conference today.

He said the leaked medical report exposed yesterday made a mockery of the police report lodged by a former male aide who claimed Anwar had sodomised him.

The Malaysia Today news portal published the report allegedly from Hospital Pusrawi where a private doctor wrote that there was no physical evidence of Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan having been sodomised.

Anwar claimed that no one had yet challenged to authenticity of the medical report and he himself had checked with specialists to confirm that the report appeared valid.

He also said the ongoing investigations was nothing but a deliberate and persistent attempt to incriminate him.

"How else can we fathom why the police during the last four weeks of their 'thorough and professional investigations' have overlooked such a critical piece of evidence?

"I condemn in the strongest terms their negligence, dishonesty and recklessness in humiliating the nation by dragging us all through this vile and filthy charade," Anwar added.

He also said his refusal to submit a DNA sample has been vindicated.

"The failure of the police to disclose this medical report all but confirms their intention to frame me. Although quite apparent even before yesterday, their desperate attempt to collect a new DNA sample is now even more clearly a last-ditch effort to build a case where none exists," he said.

Anwar said he did not know the doctor who had furnished the medical report but asked the authorities to ensure the doctor's safety and security.

"Reports that he and his family may be in danger must not be taken lightly given earlier instances where key witnesses in high-profile cases in Malaysia have been threatened, coerced or gone missing."

The former deputy prime minister also said he and his family had endured a great deal during the past month, a repeat of the trauma and abuse inflicted upon them in 1998.

"However we breathed a deep sigh of relief upon hearing of the report and, after seeing it with our own eyes, felt a great burden lifted from our shoulders," he said.

Anwar's lead lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah questioned the police for its silence over the leaked medical report, saying that it was a proof that there was no basis for a criminal action against the Parti Keadilan Rakyat advisor.

"The authorities are very vocal in demanding that Datuk Seri Anwar must prove his innocence. Why do the police talk about sabotaging the investigations when it comes to this piece of evidence," he said.

Sulaiman explained although the medical report was leaked, which broke doctor-patient confidentiality, it was still evidence that no sodomy took place.

"That's what the police are investigating. Anwar is asking about the message, not the messenger. It is implicit in the document (that no sodomy took place). So the police must act according to that message," he added.

Sulaiman also said Anwar's lawyers would proceed with the qazaf (slander) case against Saiful which Anwar had lodged with the Kuala Lumpur Religious Department on July 9.

Meanwhile, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang said the police's dismissal of the medical report as "another attempt to sabotage police investigations" and threatening to go after the whistleblowers had done a great disservice to police reputation and professionalism.

"The top agenda for the Cabinet tomorrow must be to wrestle with probably the nation's worst global crisis in the 51-year history of the nation and end the sodomy of Malaysia's international reputation now so that we would not be dumped in the dubious company of Zimbabwe, Myanmar and Sudan on the rule of law, transparency and good governance," he said.

-TMI