Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 14): The Attorney-General's Chambers says it has decided not to prosecute anyone in the alleged attempted modesty outrage case involving former research assistant Muhammad Yusoff Rawther and PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, due to insufficient evidence and contradiction of material facts.

The decision is also in agreement with the Royal Malaysia Police's (PDRM's) recommendation that the case be closed, said Solicitor-General Datuk Engku Nor Faizah Engku Atek in a statement today.

"Upon careful evaluation of all the evidence gathered in the Investigation Papers submitted by the PDRM, we found contradictions of material facts which could not support the prosecution of any person under section 354 of the Penal Code, or for that matter under any other section of the Code," said Engku Nor Faizah.

Section 354 of the Penal Code refers to assault or use of criminal force on a person with intent to outrage modesty.

"We also found there is insufficient evidence to prosecute on the reports lodged based on the evidence available in the investigation papers," she added.

Having said that, Nor Faizah noted that investigations may be reopened if and when new evidence becomes available, which is a standard practice.

She also noted that Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas has, right from the outset, recused himself from all deliberations regarding the case due to his association with Anwar since the mid-1990s, and has not been involved in any deliberations after that.

"This is consistent with the statement in the joint press release dated Aug 2, 2018 by me and the then solicitor-general II in relation to the role of the attorney-general on matters in which he may be previously involved. Thus a team of deputy public prosecutors under my supervision were entrusted to evaluate the evidence and to make any decision thereon," Nor Faizah said.

Muhammad Yusoff filed a statutory declaration in November last year, accusing Anwar of sexual misconduct. He claimed that the abuse took place while he was still working for PKR on Oct 2, 2018. He subsequently lodged a police report on Dec 7.

On Dec 9, Muhammad Yusoff was called to Bukit Aman and spent about seven hours with investigators to have his statement recorded.

Anwar has since denied the allegation, claiming that he was campaigning in the Port Dickson by-election on that day.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Yusoff's lawyer Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla in an immediate statement said he would discuss with his client tomorrow night about this development.

"I was in court when I received news over the official media release by solicitor-general Datuk Engku Nor Faezah Engku Atek.

"I will meet Yusoff latest by tomorrow night and would issue a statement on Thursday (Jan 16). I cannot issue a statement due to the lack of time," Haniff added.

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