[ Laman Ehwal Semasa ReformIS ]
Date: 19 Aug 1999
Time: 04:48:55
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Cops amended charge to fit facts
KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysian police said on Wednesday that they rewrote a sodomy charge against former Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim after discovering that the building where the crime allegedly took place was not up at the time.
Senior Assistant Commissioner Musa Hassan told the capital's High Court that the year of the alleged sodomy was changed from 1992 to 1993 after police learnt the Tivoli Villa apartment complex had not been completed in 1992.
This appeared to corroborate the defence's contention that the sodomy charge against Anwar was rewritten after his lawyers had pointed out the inconsistency.
This is the second time prosecutors have changed the date of the alleged sodomy in the charge sheet since Anwar's indictment in September.
The defence argued that the changes, while legal, supported their contention that the prosecution brought trumped-up charges against Anwar and his adopted brother, jointly accused of having sodomised Anwar's former driver.
Anwar was initially charged with sodomising him in May 1994. In April, the date was changed to May 1992. The prosecution changed the date for a second time, to between January and March 1993 at the outset of the trial in June. -- Reuters