Anwar denies sexual assault allegations, to file police report

PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has denied allegations that he attempted to sexually assault Muhammed Yusoff Rawther.

"I strongly deny this baseless slander," he said in a statement on Thursday (Dec 5).

He said that on the date mentioned by Yusoff, he was campaigning for the Port Dickson by-election and had attended an event to commemorate the 150th birthdate of Mahatma Gandhi in Kuala Lumpur before returning to Port Dickson.

Anwar said his private secretary Shukri Saad would lodge a police report on Thursday (Nov 5) on the issue, while his lawyer Ramkarpal Singh would be sending a letter of demand to Yusoff.

"His actions are aimed at tarnishing my image ahead of the 14th PKR national congress and the power transition process," said Anwar.

Yusoff, in a statutory declaration, had claimed that Anwar had attempted to coerce him into oral and anal sex at the leader's office, which he rejected.

Yusoff also claimed that he was making the statutory declaration because he was worried for his safety.

He held a press conference about the matter in Kuala Lumpur via Facebook live on Wednesday (Dec 4) but did not divulge details of his allegations, saying that it was part of a statutory declaration which had not been made public.

Yusoff is the grandson of the late SM Mohamed Idris, who was the former president of the Consumer Association of Penang (CAP).

In KUALA LUMPUR, PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil said that the timing of the statutory declaration was "peculiar".

"There are many questions because if the said allegation did happen, why didn't any of the family members (come to defend).

"He (the alleged victim) comes from a very respectable family of civil society activists," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby on Thursday.

"In fact, even if the matter did take place, why wasn't there a word about it a year ago? Why wait two days before the congress to come out with this," he questioned.

Fahmi also claimed that the accuser's family had estranged the individual and that there were signs that the matter was being politicised.

He said Malaysians have wised up and were tired of such dirty politics.