Former Bar Council president Christopher Leong is the latest in police's crosshairs and will be summoned for allegedly making seditious and misleading statements, believed to be related to criticism against the judiciary following Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy conviction last month.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar tweeted early this morning that a report has been lodged against Leong, who stepped down as Bar president earlier this month, over the matter.
"@PDRMsia sahkan terima lapuran re-statement yg berunsur menghasut dan mengelirukan Rakyat oleh Christopher Leong. Kita akan panggil CL."
(@PDRMsia confirms that it has received a report of statement that is deemed seditious and misleading the people by Christopher Leong. We will summon CL).
Khalid has drawn criticisms and controversies for his "Twitter trigger-happy" habits, using the social networking site to order his officers to investigate individuals, who were more often than not opposition politicians and critics of the federal government, over what they had said on social media sites or in public.
In his statement following Anwar's conviction for sodomy, Leong had said there was a perception that the accused was persecuted, fuelled by "glaring anomalies", including not charging complainant Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, who was the opposition leader's former aide.
He said the charge against Anwar was based on a provision of the Penal Code that was rarely used, a claim refuted by by Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.
Leong said Anwar had been prosecuted and convicted twice for an alleged offence of sexual acts between adults, wherein the charge does not contain elements of coercion.
The former Bar chief had come under fire over his statement, that was seen to be disparaging against the judiciary.
In the recent Bar council annual general meeting, a group of lawyers had moved a motion to censure him for his statement and to further call upon him to tender a public apology to the judiciary for bringing the court into contempt and misleading the Malaysian Bar.
They are believed to be part of a group of 100 lawyers who had previously said Leong's remark was a direct attack on the Federal Court without any legal basis and brought the nation's highest court into disrepute and odium.
However, the motion was thrown out after an overwhelming majority voted against it.
On Thursday, de facto law minister Nancy Shukri said in Parliament that no action has been taken against Leong as no police report was lodged.
"To date, no police report was lodged on Leong's February 11 statement entitled 'Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim prosecuted or persecuted' which was said to have insulted the judiciary.
"As such, at the Attorney-General Chambers level, no legal action was taken.”
Anwar lost his final appeal against his conviction and five-year jail sentence after the Federal Court rejected the appeal.
Anwar is serving his jail term at the Sungai Buloh prison.
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