Anwar's brother makes new claims

Anwar's brother makes new claims

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): The adopted brother of Anwar Ibrahim said on Thursday that Malaysian authorities had promised him a lenient jail sentence if he falsely accused the former finance minister of sodomy.

In his second day of testimony, Sukma Darmawan accused a policeman and a lawyer of pressing him in September to implicate Anwar in sex crimes in exchange for a light sentence.

Sukma's testimony at the capital's High Court supported Anwar's argument that he was sacked and arrested as part of a high-level political plot to ruin his chances of ever succeeding Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Anwar was sentenced in April to six years in jail for corruption and is standing trial jointly with his adopted brother on sodomy charges. Anwar faces a single charge carrying a maximum punishment of 20 years in jail and a whipping.

On Wednesday, Sukma told the court on the 17th day of the trial that police had sexually abused him while he was in detention in September and threatened to have him shot.