Police will investigate allegations that a deputy minister was involved in vice activities although Bukit Aman CID director Mohd Bakri Zinin viewed such claims as baseless.

Mohd Bakri said police have regarded it as baseless because the police report was not lodged by the victim but a third party who had alleged receiving an e-mail from the victim.

"To me claiming that the deputy minister was involved in prostitution by supplying college girls to VIPs is just a baseless accusation. We don't even know who the victim is.

NONE "However, we will still carry out an investigation to determine whether there is any truth or just baseless accusations... but if there was truth we will take the necessary action," he told reporters at his office in Kuala Lumpur today when asked to comment on a police report lodged by a politician on Aug 14.

A politician had lodged a police report based on a letter and e-mail received from a girl who claimed to be a victim of the deputy minister's vice, drugs and gangsterism activities.

Mohd Bakri said police would investigate the case in detail since the report was lodged by a third party and involved incidents that were alleged to have taken place in 2000 and 2001.

He said police have not decided to call the deputy minister to record his statement yet.

"We will look at the report first... identify the victim as claimed before taking any action," he said.

Yesterday, reports emerged that a politician had accused the deputy minister of being involved in prostitution and drug activities.

No new Penan rape cases

In IPOH, Perak police chief Zulkifli Abdullah said Perak police would not carry out any investigation on the issue because reports carried by some local dailies were not true while the report was not made in Ipoh.

Meanwhile, speaking of claims that seven Penan women were sexually exploited in Baram, Sarawak, Mohd Bakri said so far no witness has come forward.

azlan He said a group of 36 NGOs claiming themselves as Penan Support Group, formed to fight the rights of the Penan people, have however not provided evidence to assist the police.

"We have formed a special task force headed by Bukit Aman deputy CID director (investigations and operations) Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani and they have gone to Baram to investigate.

"However, we have not found any new cases. There were also no cases reported to the Sarawak police and there is no evidence from those who made such claims, so how are we to carry out investigations?" he asked.

The Penan Support Group in a report titled 'A Wider Context of Sexual Exploitation of Penan Women and Girls in Middle and Ulu Baram' said reports of the sexual exploitation cases were obtained during a mission carried out last November.

- Bernama