The Malaysian police will be calling PM-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim, leader of the PKR, to record his statement in connection with claims he sexually assaulted someone.
The police questioned the man he is accused of assaulting, one Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, for the second time on Tuesday after he had made allegations in a solo press conference that was not covered by any media organisation.
In a statement, the police said it will also record statements from other people in connection to the matter.
Federal Police CID director Huzir Mohamed said they would set up appointments with the individuals concerned to record their statements.
The alleged victim had expressed concern over his safety, claiming that he had received threats from certain parties.
“The case is being investigated under Section 354 of the Penal Code (assault or use of criminal force to a person with intent to outrage modesty) and the investigation papers will be referred to the Attorney General’s Chambers with some recommendations based on the findings of the investigation,” he said in a statement on today (Dec 11).
Last week, Yusoff said he was sexually assaulted by Anwar on Oct 2 which was strongly denied by Anwar who said he was busy at that time in Port Dickson.
He was campaigning for his election as the Port Dickson MP in a by-election which he won with a large margin of victory.
On Tuesday, he spent about four hours being questioned by investigators for a second time after he was questioned for over seven hours on Monday.
Yusoff is a former research assistant of Anwar who was jailed after a male aide accused him of sexual assault in 2008.
The second sodomy accusation came when Anwar was the leader of the Pakatan Rakyat opposition. He was tried in 2010 and 2011 but in January 2012 he was acquitted.
However, the Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal and imposed a five-year jail sentence against Anwar who appealed to the Federal Court but in February 2015 the court reaffirmed the conviction and sentencing.
After the Pakatan Harapan won the elections on May 9, 2018, Anwar got an official pardon on May 16, 2018. -/TISG