30 July, 2008
(NST) - Police have strongly denied an allegation that they have detained a private doctor and forced him to fabricate sodomy evidence against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
In a rare move, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar yesterday released a statement rubbishing a news portal report under the heading "Doctor on the run: Police want him to fabricate evidence against Anwar".
He said in a statement: "At no time did police detain a doctor or force him to fabricate evidence against the suspect."
"The article is based on hearsay, is speculative and ascribes imputations which are totally unfair."
Ismail said the article was intended to skew public perception and undermine the police.
The article included a copy of the doctor's report.
It also alleged that the police then detained the doctor for three days and tried to force him to change his report.
Ismail added it would not be in the police's best interests to respond to all the allegations currently floating in cyberspace, as the case was still under investigation.
The police, he said, had conducted the investigation professionally and expeditiously, and would not in any way, be influenced or intimidated by any party to hamper their investigations.
"We are conscious of the fact that this case has to be handled fairly and impartially."
He advised the public not to jump to conclusions without validating the truth of the allegations.
Earlier yesterday, Ismail denied that police were dragging their feet in the investigations.
He said the case was given priority as it was a high-profile investigation.
"We want to solve this case as soon as possible.
"The investigating officer is constantly looking for new leads.
"We are doing our best and we need the co-operation of all quarters concerned," said Ismail, who was commenting on Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar's statement on Monday, asking police to speed up the investigations into the sodomy allegation.
Ismail added that since investigations began, some quarters had been making speculations and statements that could interfere with the investigations.
He warned those concerned, including bloggers, not to hamper police investigations by disseminating material or information that was inaccurate or false.
"Action will be taken against those who deliberately try to interfere with the investigations."
Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is being investigated for alleged sodomy following a report lodged against him on June 28 by his former aide.
Anwar was arrested on July 16 to assist in the investigations.
But the former deputy prime minister had refused to give a blood sample for DNA tests, claiming that evidence would be fabricated by police.
He had earlier lodged a police report against the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, alleging that they had fabricated evidence against him during the "black eye" investigations in 1998.
Anwar was released on police bail and has to report back to the city police headquarters on Aug 18.
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