Kuala Lumpur, Aug 6 (IANS) Malaysia’s Bar Council has questioned the police investigation into the charges of sodomy made against former deouty prime minister Anwar Ibrahim by his former aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan. Terming reports about Azlan’s medical examination as “troubling”, Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan asked whether he was interviewed by the police before it registered his complaint against Ibrahim.

“Reports that the examination, done a few hours before Saiful lodged a police report against Anwar, showed no evidence that Saiful had been sodomised by anyone has raised serious questions,” the Indian origin lawyer said Tuesday.

Sreenevasan raised the following questions:

* Was the doctor who examined Azlan interviewed by the police and was he detained for any length of time?

* Is the doctor facing any form of intimidation, and if so, from whom?

* Did the medical report by another doctor confirm or contradict the first medical report?

* If the medical report is true, showing a lack of prima facie evidence, what is the justification for the vigorous actions taken against Ibrahim as well as the public call by the authorities for his DNA sample?

“The answers are important as they bring into focus the integrity of Malaysian law enforcement,” she was quoted as saying by The Sun newspaper.

Ibrahim has been battling the government on the sodomy charge that he has vehemently denied.

Sreenevasan’s statement came even as Ibrahim prepares to contest a parliamentary by-election that has been facilitated by the resignation of his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who was the opposition leader in parliament.

The couple has emerged politically strong at the head of an opposition alliance that has 82 members in parliament and controls five of the 13 states.