From correspondents in Federal Territory, Malaysia, 06:02 PM IST

Malaysian police have served opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim with an arrest warrant in connection with sodomy allegations levelled by a former male aide, Anwar's lawyer said Tuesday.

Sankara Nair said the investigating officer Jude Pereira informed Anwar in a letter that he was required to give his statement at the Kuala Lumpur police station by 2 pm Wednesday.

Mohamad Bakri Zinin, the head of the criminal investigations department, had warned that failure to show up at the station might lead to his client's arrest, Sankara said, speaking at Anwar's home.

He stressed Anwar would comply with the police order, but was prepared to be arrested nonetheless.

Anwar, who was charged and jailed in 1998 for sodomy and corruption but later absolved of the sodomy charges, has slammed the accusations as a political conspiracy to prevent him from taking over the government.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)