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Key witness says police told him to amend date of Anwar sodomy charge

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 (AFP) - The key witness in Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial testified Wednesday that police ordered him to amend the date of his alleged sexual encounter with Malaysia's former deputy premier.

Under cross examination, former driver Azizan Abu Bakar said Senior Assistant Commissioner Musa Hassan, the police officer investigating the case, told him to change the date from May 1992 to between January and March 1993.

"Do you agree that the date of May 1992 was not true?" asked defence counsel Christopher Fernando.

"Throughout 1992, I was sodomised," Azizan mumbled as Fernando told him to answer the question directly.

Judge Arifin Jaka sided with the defence lawyer, saying: "Don't fool around. This witness is being evasive and won't answer a simple question."

Azizan then replied: "I agree it is not true."

The former driver said he was aware the luxury apartment building where the sodomy incident allegedly took place was "not even around" in mid-1992.

Fernando then asked Azizan if he was instructed to amend the dates to between January and March 1993.

"Yes," Azizan replied, adding that he was told to do so by the officer who took his statement on June 1, less than a week before Anwar's second trial began.

"Who was the officer?" Fernando asked.

"Musa Hassan," Azizan replied.

Prosecutors have twice amended the date of the sodomy charge against Anwar and his Indonesian-born adopted brother Sukma Darmawan.

The initial charge said the incident took place in May 1994 but this was later changed to May 1992 and eventually to between January and March in 1993.

Under further cross examination, Fernando also accused Azizan of lying when he testified earlier in the week that Anwar sodomised him up to 15 times before the alleged 1993 incident.

"If it was true, the first time you were sodomised, you would have run away, miles away. You would not have come back and would have quit without notice," the defence counsel said.

Azizan replied that he was "scared" as well as being "confused and at my wit's end."

He agreed he was also "afraid" of being sodomised again but said he returned to work for Anwar's wife briefly in 1994 because he "respected" her.

"I put it to you that this is a concoction by you, otherwise you would not have come back and asked for more," Fernando said.

"It is not true," Azizan said.

Anwar, fired and arrested in September last year, is already serving a six-year sentence for abusing his position to cover up allegations of sexual misconduct. He faces up to 20 additional years in jail if convicted of sodomy.

Both Anwar and Sukma are charged with sodomising Azizan. Sukma faces a further charge of abetting Anwar to sodomise Azizan.