Malaysia's former Deputy Prime Minister released on police bail

Petaling Jaya (Malaysia), July 17 : Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's de facto opposition leader and former Deputy Prime Minister, was released on police bail today morning after his statement was recorded.

He was safely back at his home in Bukit Segambut in Kuala Lumpur, and is expected to hold a press conference in afternoon, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar said.

Anwar's statement was taken down to facilitate police investigations into the report lodged on June 28 by his 23-year-old former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan, alleging that he had been sodomised by the PKR de facto leader.

"He was arrested on Wednesday as he was a suspect, and his arrest was made in accordance with the law," The Star quoted Ismail, as saying.

"Police followed every procedure and had even informed him and his lawyers that the warrant for his arrest had been obtained. He was treated fairly and according to due process of the law, which included allowing his wife (Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail) to visit him at about midnight," he added.

Ismail said police would continue with their investigations. He also appealed to the public not to speculate and to allow the police to investigate this case as they would any other case.

Anwar's lawyers R. Sivarasa and Sankara Nair said that no charges had been levied on the former Deputy Prime Minister at this time.

They said that Anwar refused to give a DNA sample on Wednesday night because they feared there would be fabrication of evidence, which Anwar had alleged had taken place in the infamous "black eye" incident nearly a decade ago.

At that time, Anwar was alleged to have committed sodomy too.

ANI