KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — Police are not investigating Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim over a video clip allegedly of him with a prostitute despite his detractors’ clamour.Bukit Aman secretariat chief Deputy Commissioner Datuk Ghazali Mohd Amin said the opposition chief was not being investigated as there was no sign of criminal misconduct.
“No, no, no, no,” he told The Malaysian Insider yesterday when asked if Anwar had been charged with any crime.
Ghazali then declined to respond to further questions as he was boarding a flight at the time.
Tan Sri Rahim Thamby Chik and Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah, two of the three men behind the video, have urged the government to set up a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to determine the video’s authenticity.
Rahim told reporters last week after giving his statement to the police that experts should be called on to verify that the video has not been doctored.
The former Melaka chief minister also handed over the original copy of the recording and an Omega watch allegedly belonging to Anwar, which Rahim said had been recovered from the hotel room where the video was allegedly shot.
Malay rights group Perkasa later joined in the call for an RCI, which it said was needed to determine if Anwar had committed the “sinful act”.
The group, which counts many Umno supporters in its membership, said Anwar will have to withdraw from politics if he is proven to be the man in the video as that would be an “insult to Islam and the Malay race”.
Perkasa also defended Rahim, Shazryl Eskay and Perkasa treasurer-general Datuk Shuib Lazim — known collectively as “Datuk T” — for their role in bringing the video to light.
The trio should not be condemned for what they did before it is established how the video was obtained and recorded, Perkasa youth chief Arman Azha Abu Hanifah added.
Police have classified the case under Section 292 of the Penal Code, which prohibits the distribution of obscene material, and have set up a special unit under the criminal investigation department (CID) at Bukit Aman to helm the probe.
The alleged Anwar sex video first hit the headlines on March 21 when it was shown to senior editors and journalists under a veil of secrecy at Carcosa Seri Negara.
The 21-minute black-and-white video is said to have been taken from closed-circuit television camera recordings found in a hotel room in Kuala Lumpur.
The footage shows a man resembling Anwar receiving oral sex from a woman with East Asian features before he has sex with her in several positions.
The sex video scandal is the latest in a string of sexual allegations against the embattled Anwar, who was sacked as deputy prime minister in 1998 by then-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad before being charged and convicted of sodomy.
Anwar spent six years in prison before the conviction was overturned in 2004 under Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration.
The charismatic opposition leader went on to lead Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to record gains in Election 2008, denying Barisan Nasional (BN) its traditional two-thirds federal majority for only the second time in history since Malaysia’s independence.
But he was arrested later that same year and charged once more for allegedly sodomising a former male aide. The trial is ongoing.
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