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New sex charges as Mahathir vows to step down for Anwar

Wednesday, 11 December 2019 10:28 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 11 December 2019 10:48 AM ]

President of the People’s Justice Party Anwar Ibrahim reacts during their general assembly in Melaka, Malaysia, on December 7, 2019. (Photo by Reuters)

Police say Anwar Ibrahim, in line to take over Malaysia's premiership, will be called for questioning over sexual assault charges.

The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad promised to hand over power to Anwar as pledged in 2018.

Mahathir heads a coalition government whose largest party is led by 72-year-old Anwar, who has been jailed twice on separate counts of sodomy and for corruption - charges he says were political.

Police said Wednesday Anwar will be called in for questioning over allegations that he had sexually assaulted a former male aide.

Anwar has denied the accusation by Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, describing it as "politics at its worst". Muhammed Yusoff said last week that Anwar had attempted to force him to have sex in September 2018.

In a statement to media, Anwar said he was grateful to police for speeding up investigations into the "latest defamatory allegations" against him.

"I would like to stress that I am ready to give my statement to the police immediately to assist in the investigation," he said.

A former deputy premier, Anwar was first sacked and then jailed in 1999 during Mahathir's first 1981-2003 tenure as prime minister.

Mahathir and Anwar mended fences in 2016, joining forces to lead the opposition to an unexpected election victory last year.

Malaysia’s ex-deputy PM Anwar plans to return as legislator

Malaysia

The new defendant is being represented by a lawyer who counts Prime Minister Mahathir among his clients.

The lawyer, Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, denied a conflict of interest in taking on a case against the prime minister's planned successor.

"The prime minister is still my client but that does not mean I should not take on cases just because they involve his ministers or people in his administration," Mohamed Haniff told Reuters.

The lawyer said he did not speak to Mahathir before taking on this case, but the prime minister was surprised after they talked about it afterwards.

On Tuesday, Mahathir said he would be ready to step down after a summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries that Malaysia is to host next November.

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