April 23, 1999
Web posted at: 1:40 a.m. EDT (0540 GMT)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (CNN) -- Prosecutors on Friday indicted two associates of sacked Malaysian deputy prime minister, opening a new chapter in the legal woes of the ex-minister barely a week after he was jailed for corruption.

Anwar's adopted brother Sukma Dermawan was charged in the capital's Session's Court with sodomy, assisting sodomy and perjury, while his former private secretary Azmin Ali was indicted in the same court for perjury, lawyers said.

A third man, fashion designer Mior Abdul Razak Yahya, was expected to be indicted later on Friday. Mior had confessed to being sodomized by Anwar but later said police had coerced him.

Defense lawyers were perplexed by the government's move, which thrust Anwar's legal case back into the public eye nine days after he was convicted of four counts of corruption and sentenced to six years in jail. "We just don't know what they are up to," C.V. Prabhakaran, a lawyer representing Azmin, said.

Sukma pleaded guilty in September to being sodomized by Anwar and served a six-month jail sentence. But he has said police forced him into making a false confession, and he is appealing his conviction.

Azmin told Anwar's corruption trial in March that he was stripped while in police custody in September and told to confess to being sodomized by Anwar. He refused, and is mentioned in the remaining corruption count hanging over Anwar's head.

It was widely expected that outstanding sex charges against Anwar would not be pursued because of international concerns over his corruption trial.

Anwar still faces a fifth corruption charge and five sodomy counts.

However, the charges brought Friday against the associates of Anwar seem to indicate the one-time protege to Malaysian prime minister could still be brought back to court.

Anwar, 51, was arrested on September 20 by armed policemen who smashed his front door.

He was jailed for abusing the deputy prime minister's office to cover up allegations of sodomy and adultery. He claims he was the victim of a political conspiracy.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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