KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — A "Datuk Seri” who was accused by his daughter of sexual assault will be charged next week, the police said today.

City police chief Datuk Saiful Azly Kamaruddin said prosecutors have sent instructions to charge the man under Sections 354 and 509 of the Penal Code with the use of criminal force and the use of gestures with the intent to outrage one’s modesty.

"The charging of the suspect will be conducted on March 22, around 10am at Jalan Duta Court Complex since the suspect’s existing state of health did not permit so,” he said in a statement here.

He also responded to the victim’s lawyer who alleged delay in bringing criminal charges against the man since the latter’s arrest in January.

"In reference to a local media report claiming that prosecutors and investigations were taking a long time is inaccurate.

"This is the same for another report which quoted the KL police chief that the investigations papers (IP) have been referred to the Attorney General Chambers since January 26 which was inaccurate as well.

"The IP is needed to be referred to prosecutors several times since the case happened over a period of ten years ago whereby the completed IP was only referred to prosecutors with the suggestion to press charges on February 25,” he said.

Detailing the chronology of the investigation, Saiful Azly explained that investigators had submitted their findings to prosecutors for further recommendations after the probe began on January 14.

"On January 14, the police received a report from a 20-year-old local woman who claimed she was molested by her biological father who is a Datuk Seri.

"The molestations have been taking place since 2010 until early 2021. On the same day, an IP was opened by the KL Criminal Investigations Department.

"Prosecutors then gave instructions to the police to follow up with several measures to complete the investigations and the IP was referred back again to prosecutors on February 25,” he said.

Therefore, Saiful Azly said media reports claiming authorities took two months to decide whether to prosecute the suspect was inaccurate.

Saiful Azly also said the police would apply for a Protection Order (PO) to protect the victim and her siblings from any form of harassment by the suspect after the prosecution is completed.

Previously, he said the victim had rejected an Interim Protection Order (IPO) since it was only limited to the applicant as she wanted her siblings to be protected as well.

IPOs are court documents prohibiting perpetrators from committing abuse and are valid throughout the police investigation.

The young woman first went to the Dang Wangi police headquarters on January 14 and filed a report against her father, claiming he had sexually assaulted her five days earlier at her home.

She further said it was not the first time as the sexual and physical assaults had been ongoing for roughly 10 years.

Following her police complaint, her father, in his 50s, was arrested at his home in the capital city. He was remanded for two days and then released on police bail.

After waiting days and seeing no legal action, the young woman turned to social media where she detailed her experiences and sought the public’s help to encourage authorities to expedite the matter.