Doc who examined Saiful stands by his report - Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Aug 7, 2008

The Myanmar doctor who had examined Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan is standing by his medical report that the former aide to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was not sodomised.

In a statutory declaration dated Aug 1, Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid @ Than Aung, reiterated that he stood by 'his findings'.

"For the record I would like to confirm that I strongly stand firm on my findings," he said in his statutory declaration.

Dr Mohamed Osman also said he had no knowledge of how his medical examination report on Mohd Saiful was circulated to the media and Internet. "I would like to stress that I have no knowledge of the person responsible for leaking the report to any third party," he added.

Dr Mohamed Osman said that some time in early July, he was visited by an officer from the Brickfields district police's criminal division, ASP Rosmi Mat Derus, who interviewed him about the medical examination on Mohd Saiful.

He said ASP Rosmi recorded the statement in Bahasa Malaysia, in his own handwriting, which he did not understand.

The following week the same officer returned with a typed statement in Bahasa Malaysia for him to read and sign.

However, Dr Mohamed Osman said certain facts that were not discussed in the previous meeting had been introduced in the typed statement, namely Anwar's name.

Dr Mohamed Osman claimed Anwar's name was never brought up during the first interview and Mohd Saiful also never confided to him about the identity of the alleged perpetrator.

"About a week later I was visited by a plainclothes police officer by the name of DSP Choo from the criminal division of the Jalan Hang Tuah district police, who impressed on me that I would be charged if I refused to cooperate with the police," he added.

Dr Mohamed Osman said he then decided to flee the country with his family as he feared for his and their safety.

Saiful was examined by Dr Mohamed Osman at Hospital Pusrawi before he lodged a police report alleging he had been sodomised by Anwar.

The Myanmar national was put into the centre of the sodomy allegation controversy, when the report was leaked and posted on blogs on July 29.

The hospital has since stated that Dr Mohamed Osman had not carried out a sodomy related examination on Saiful.