KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian police on Tuesday threatened to arrest opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim if he did not cooperate in sodomy investigations against him.
Anwar’s lawyer said police had issued a warrant of arrest against the former deputy premier and would act if he did not turn up to give his statement on Wednesday.
“For all we know they may arrest him,” Sankara Nair told reporters, although he said Anwar had agreed to meet police on Wednesday.
“We are not worried. Absolutely not. My client is ready to face whatever the police will do and he is going to defend himself in court.”
Anwar has painted the allegations as a political conspiracy to prevent the resurgent opposition from seizing power by September.
The ongoing row, coupled with the prospect of a sudden change of government and economic policy, has raised political temperatures and distressed foreign investors.
The stock market ended down nearly 1.5 percent, due partly to the political uncertainties.
The government demanded that Anwar provide his DNA for investigations into the sodomy complaint brought against him by a former aide.
“Our intention is to get to the truth,” Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said in a statement. “We have taken DNA (from the accuser) so we have to take Anwar’s DNA also.”
The Home Minister dismissed talk that Anwar’s case was politically motivated.
“This is a legal process, a due process,” Syed Hamid said.
“There is no political motivation. There is nothing we do which is outside the law. We want to make sure that all the action we take will be in accordance to procedure and law.”
The sodomy allegation is the latest twist in a political drama that includes allegations of sex and murder against the government and has further eroded the popularity of premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The prime minister has been under pressure to quit after a disastrous showing by the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in a March general election.
(Writing by Liau Y-Sing; Editing by David Fogarty)
By Niluksi Koswanage and Jalil Hamid
