Police forced a man and a woman to retract allegations of sex crimes by the sacked finance minister and deputy premier, Mr Anwar Ibrahim, by threatening them during an all-night interrogation, an officer said yesterday.
Mr Abdul Aziz Husin of the police intelligence unit told the capital's High Court on the seventh day of Mr Anwar's corruption and sex trial that police exerted "intense mental pressure" on the accusers to coerce them into withdrawing their allegations.
He also stunned the court with a brief re-enactment of the interrogation. "May I demonstrate how it's done?" he asked politely when Mr Anwar's lawyer, Mr Raja Aziz Raja Addruse, asked for details.
The witness, who said he had been with the police special branch for 20 years, jolted the tiny courtroom with a thunderous shout and venomous look at Mr Raja Aziz.
"Impressive," muttered the 61-year-old lawyer.
The testimony by Mr Abdul Aziz, the second witness in the trial at the core of Malaysia's civil unrest, buttressed the prosecution's argument that Mr Anwar's accusers were forced against their will to withdraw allegations against the former minister.
Mr Anwar has pleaded not guilty to five charges of corruption and five of sodomy. Initially, the court is examining allegations that Mr Anwar abused his power to force police to obtain retractions.
The police intelligence chief told the court last week that Mr Anwar had asked him to obtain retractions, and that he later wrote a report to the Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, saying the accusations were false and part of a plot.
Mr Anwar says powerful politicians close to Dr Mahathir plotted to frame him so he would never gain power or expose corruption.
With less than a week to go before a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, Mr Anwar yesterday revived
a five-year-old Australian insult against Dr Mahathir which led to a sharp deterioration in bilateral ties.
"The PM is getting too recalcitrant. Foreign leaders are not going to meet him," Mr Anwar said during a brief adjournment at his corruption trial.
In November 1993, Australia's then prime minister, Mr Paul Keating, used the same term to describe Dr Mahathir for boycotting the first Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit.