SABAH politician Peter Anthony has been arrested to assist police investigations into a riot outside the Tenom parliamentary seat nomination centre yesterday, state police said.

Sabah police commissioner Idris Abdullah, however, said the Melalap assemblyman was released this morning.

Anthony is also the Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) president.

“The investigation is going well and Anthony was released on police bail today,” said Idris in a statement.

He said that investigation papers have been opened under section 24A(2) of the Election Act 1954, which prohibits the public from waiting or being within 100m of the perimeters of a nomination centre.

The case is also being investigated under section 147 of the penal code for rioting.

It was reported yesterday that about 300 of Anthony’s supporters tried to storm the nomination centre after election officials rejected his nomination papers as he had an unresolved court case.

A video clip went viral on social media showing people rushing into the nomination centre and the police firing gas into the crowd which was carrying flags bearing the party’s logo.

The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court had on May 26 found Anthony, a former Sabah infrastructure development minister, guilty of forging a letter for a mechanical and electrical systems maintenance work at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, and sentenced him to three years’ jail and imposed a RM50,000 fine.

Anthony, however, applied for stay of execution on his sentence and conviction, which the same court allowed on August 1. – November 6, 2022.