Citing past support for Anwar, lawyer urges AG to recuse himself from sex assault probe

(FMT) – The lawyer for Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, the man at the centre of sexual assault allegations against PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim, has urged Attorney-General Tommy Thomas to recuse himself from the case.

Haniff Khatri Abdulla said while he welcomed the latest development in the police’s investigation of the allegations, there would be questions of conflict of interest and natural justice raised if Thomas were to be part of any decision on the case.

Haniff said Thomas had openly sided with Anwar in the past when the latter was charged with sodomy.

He cited as example an article in 2012 in the wake of Anwar’s acquittal by the High Court in the sodomy case involving Saiful Bukhari Azlan, in which Thomas wrote that Anwar’s prosecution was “all about politics, and nothing but politics”.

“If Anwar is not an electoral threat to Umno, he would not have been prosecuted. It is as simple, plain and obvious as that,” Thomas had written in an article published by Penang-based pressure group Aliran.

“With such a view, Tommy Thomas clearly has forfeited his rights to deliberate on the investigation papers prepared by police on Yusoff Rawther’s complaint of sexual crime against Anwar Ibrahim,” said Haniff.

Anwar was jailed twice on charges of sodomy, both times in what he said were political conspiracies. His five-year jail term was cut short in 2018 following a royal pardon, just a week after the change of government in the May 9 general election.

Yusoff’s police report against Anwar in early December resulted in a probe by the Classified Criminal Investigation Unit (D5) under Section 354 of the Penal Code, which deals with using criminal force to outrage a person’s modesty.

Police had recorded statements from him and Anwar. The PKR president has rejected the allegations.

Yesterday, Bukit Aman’s Criminal Investigation Department director Huzir Mohamed said the case was one of three referred to the AG, the other two being the gay sex video implicating Mohamed Azmin Ali, and murder allegations against Najib Razak by Azilah Hadri, who has been sentenced to death for the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Huzir said police would also be discussing the result of the polygraph test taken by Yusoff on Dec 17.