The man who has an ongoing sexual assault lawsuit against Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim now faces a criminal charge of trafficking 305g of cannabis last Friday.
Muhammed Yusoff Rawther was charged before the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court today with drug trafficking in front of the Kuala Lumpur contingent police headquarters surau.
The former aide to Anwar was accused of committing the offence around 10.15am on Sept 6, as detailed by the charge framed under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and 12 strokes of the cane.
His plea was not recorded before magistrate S Arunjothy, as the case would later be transferred to the High Court where his plea would be taken.
Yusoff’s counsel Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali previously alleged that his client’s detention involved politically linked individuals planting evidence.
Yusoff on Sept 6 was detained over alleged drug and gun possession. However, his charge today is only drug-related.
Yusoff has an ongoing civil action before the Kuala Lumpur High Court over an allegation that Anwar sexually assaulted him at the PKR president’s office in October 2018.
The former research assistant came into the limelight on Dec 4, 2019, during a press conference where he revealed his statutory declaration containing the sexual assault claim.
Thirteen days later, Yusoff went to Bukit Aman to undergo a polygraph test over a police probe into his sexual misconduct claims against Anwar.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers announced on Jan 14, 2020, that there was a lack of evidence to charge Anwar in the criminal courts over the alleged incident. A year later, Yusoff filed the civil action.
On May 7 this year, the civil court denied Yusoff’s application to compel the police to disclose the results of the polygraph test, which he wanted to strengthen his suit.
Earlier, Yusoff arrived at the court complex under heavy police security today.
He was heard uttering profanities at a certain politician as he was led into the complex lock-up.
It was reported that Yusoff was arrested last Friday after police allegedly found two pistols and 305g of ganja in the car he was travelling in.
Rafique said Yusoff was detained around 9.30am on the same day.
He said Yusoff denied any connection to the pistols and drugs, claiming that the items were planted to frame him by individuals with personal vendettas.
The High Court fixed a seven-day trial from June 16 next year.