Malaysian police pick up suspects in Minister's sex tryst DVD case

Singapore, Jan 5 (UNI) Malaysian police has detained a 29-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man for possessing and distributing the sex DVD involving former Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek, who resigned earlier this week.

Deputy Commissioner of the Johor Police in southern Peninsular State of Johor, Hussin Ismail, said the woman, a beauty salon owner, was arrested near her shop in Batu Pahat town on Thursday.

Police seized one DVD and three VCDs and a laptop, according to Malaysian media reports today.

The man, a farmer, was also picked up yesterday from Batu Pahat, also in Johor state, for distributing the video, which allegedly showed the former Minister with a woman in a hotel room.

He said police has recorded a statement from Dr Chua, who is senior member of the Malaysian Chinese Association, one of the main components of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition that faces a general election in the near future.

The Johor Police senior officer said the case is being investigated under Section 292 of the Penal Code for distributing and possessing material containing pornographic elements.

He also urged people in possession of the offensive sex DVD to surrender it to the police or destroy it.

It is an offence to keep such a DVD, or transferring the video to a computer, he told newspersons yesterday.

Dr Chua, in his sixties and a grandfather, said he had stripped bare to all the 26 million Malaysians about his private life following the disclosure of the sex DVDs.

This is a first expose of a Minister involved in sex DVD case in Malaysia in recent memories.

UNI XC CS HS0835