DPM admits meeting sodomy complainant
Malaysiakini.com
Jul 3, 2008
Beh Lih Yi 

In a new twist, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today admitted that he met Saiful Bukhari Azlan a few days before the latter lodged a police report against Anwar Ibrahim for alleged sodomy.
MCPX

Najib however denied that he had advised Saiful to lodge the police report against Anwar, the PKR de facto leader and opposition chief.

najib pc in parliamnet on altantuya murder case allegations 030708The admission by the deputy premier today was a shocker as previously he had acknowledged Saiful meeting his special officer three months ago to seek government scholarship.

At the time, he did not disclose about this personal meeting with Saiful.

"There are two elements. He (Saiful) came to the office to seek help for scholarship and he only met with my special officer.

"He (also) came to my house because he needed help because he was so traumatised, so that was it.

"I am saying it because there has never been a conspiracy, you can't link the two things together. He just came for help, that's all and he never met me when he came to my office," said the deputy premier.

Najib's admission that he had met Saiful days before he lodged the police report is likely to bolster Anwar's claims of a conspiracy.

‘He was in fear'

Najib had unwittingly revealed his meeting with Saiful when asked by reporters to react to Anwar's unrelenting attacks against him.

"I don't know, maybe he (Anwar) thinks I am the one behind the guy (Saiful). Actually there is no conspiracy, he came and saw me to complain that he had been sodomised by Anwar," said Najib.

saiful bukhari azlan brickfields police station 030708Najib added he accepted the meeting with Saiful in his capacity as a government leader and the young man as a Malaysian citizen.

With his ‘revelation', Najib was pressed by reporters for more details on their meeting, including whether he believed the claims made by Saiful on the alleged sodomy.

In this, Najib said: "I was sceptical, I was not sure whether there was any basis or whether it was genuine or whatever it was. I was worried, so I said ‘look, it's up to you (to decide on the next course of action)."

But he also added that Saiful "looks genuine".

"I don't dare to say. He looks genuine as he was in fear, his hands were seram sejuk (cold) but I dare not draw a conclusion, I advised him that 'you decide for yourself'," said Najib.

On whether he asked Saiful to lodge a police report, he said: "No, I said, 'it's up to you', and I was not sure whether he was going to file the police report."

Saiful dropped the bombshell on Saturday when he lodged the police report claiming that Anwar had sodomised him.

PKR later claimed that the police report was a fix-up as there was a photo showing Saiful visiting the deputy premier's office and met with the latter's senior officer. 

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