KUALA LUMPUR: Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad yesterday rejected the notion that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government was conspiring to kill the political career of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

He said it was absurd to link the government to such an act that would result in accusations being hurled against its leaders.

“I don’t know whose conspiracy is this… All this while the government has been accused of not being efficient in running the country, but suddenly it has become so good at plotting conspiracies,” he said when met at the parliament lobby yesterday.

Last Saturday, an aide of Anwar, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, lodged a police report alleging that he was sodomised by the former deputy prime minister at a luxury apartment in Damansara Heights here on June 26.

Anwar denies the charge, saying it was part of a conspiracy to bring him down.

On Anwar’s claim that the allegation was meant to derail his plan to contest in a by-election, Shahrir said he did not see any by-election taking place in the near future.

“You can ask him when he is supposed to contest in the by-election,” he said.

Meanwhile, Umno vice-president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also rejected claims by Anwar that the sodomy allegation was meant to stop him from contesting in a by-election.

He said the party had no intention nor did it play any role in the situation Anwar currently found himself in.

“These are just Anwar’s words. As the prime minister said, we have no intention and have not played any role in whatever it is that he is facing,” he told reporters in Kuantan yesterday.

The international trade and industry minister also hoped that Anwar and other parties would not resort to politicising the issue to gain sympathy.

“I hope the issue is not politicised just to create a diversion from the problem he is facing.

“If a conspiracy indeed exists, the Attorney-General and the police could take action in accordance with the law,” he said.— Bernama