Malaysian police to quiz Anwar over sex assault claims

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's leader-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim will be questioned by police over allegations he sexually assaulted a male former aide, officials said Wednesday, the latest such scandal to tarnish his career.

Anwar has vehemently denied the claims by his former research assistant Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, who says he was assaulted last year. The 72-year-old Anwar, seen as the likely successor to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, spent almost a decade in jail after being convicted of sodomising a young male aide, allegations that supporters say were aimed at ruining his political career.

Sex between men remains illegal under colonial-era laws in the Muslim-majority country. He was released from prison and pardoned last year after his alliance stormed to a shock victory against a corruption-plagued coalition that had ruled the country since independence from Britain in 1957.