Wednesday July 16, 2008 MYT 4:01:43 PM
Cops arrest Anwar (Update 8)
KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim arrived at the city police headquarters here in a white Pajero at 1.15pm Wednesday after being arrested by the police.
He had been arrested in front of his house in Bukit Segambut.
His lawyer Sankara Nair said the police told Anwar that he was being arrested for investigations under Section 377C of the Penal Code for alleged "carnal intercourse against the order of nature."
On June 28, his 23-year-old former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan had lodged a police report alleging that Anwar had
sodomised him.
Asked if Anwar was handcuffed, Sankara said he was not.
Anwar started giving his statement to the police at about 2.50pm, said another of his lawyers R. Sivarasa, also the Subang Member of Parliament (MP).
Anwar's wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said he had called her from the police car to say he had been arrested.
"He asked me to go home to look after the children," she said when met in Parliament lobby earlier Wednesday.
Wan Azizah was at the city police headquarters by 1.30pm, followed 25 minutes later by daughter Nurul Izzah and her husband Raja Ahmad Shahrir.
"It's a feeling of deja vu with what happened 10 years ago," Wan Azizah said, adding that she was unhappy over how the arrest had been conducted.
"We'd already given our assurance that he would be at the police headquarters at 2pm," she said.
Police said they arrested Anwar an hour earlier before the 2pm deadline because they feared he would not show up.
Federal CID director Comm Datuk Bakri Zinin said Anwar was supposed to have gone directly to the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters immediately after giving his statement to the ACA in Putrajaya.
"However, we were informed that after he left the ACA headquarters in Putrajaya, he had changed his route and was heading back to his house in (Bukit) Segambut," he said.
"He was arrested as we had reason to believe he was not going to show up," he claimed.
"We wish to point out that Anwar had initially agreed to meet us on Monday but he failed to keep his appointment," Comm Bakri added.
PKR members and supporters have been gathering at the city police headquarters since the arrest was made known.
"I don't believe this is happening. We will seek to get him released as soon as possible," said DAP chairman Karpal Singh.
DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang described the arrest as "highly provocative and shocking."
Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Yusuf, who was there as Anwar's lawyer, said the matter would be brought up in Parliament.
The police had on Tuesday given Anwar a
2pm deadline to answer allegations of sodomy.
Anwar was at the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) headquarters in Putrajaya at 10am Wednesday over reports he had lodged against the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the Attorney-General (A-G).
In his report
lodged on July 1, Anwar had alleged that IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan and A-G Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail had fabricated evidence in the “black eye” investigation in 1999.
Musa was the investigating officer and Abdul Gani led the prosecution in the case in which Anwar had been beaten up by the IGP then, Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor.
The two were
questioned by the ACA on July 11.
Anwar left the ACA headquarters at 12.20pm.
He said the ACA had not completed its interview, but he had to cut it short to make his 2pm appointment with the police to answer questions over the sodomy allegation made against him.
"I have adduced all evidence to the ACA officers and I am satisfied with the line of questioning," he said, adding that everything he said had been recorded.
The interview was conducted by a few ACA officers, said Anwar, who arrived at the agency accompanied by lawyers Sankara, Sivarasa, Param Cumaraswamy and dozens of supporters.
"If I am arrested, I guess the ACA can do their follow-up interview at the lock-up," he joked.
Source:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/7/16/nation/20080716101744&sec=nation
