Malaysia's de facto opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, took refuge at the Turkish embassy on Sunday for security reasons, his party said, hours after an allegation that he had sodomised an aide, a claim which he denied.

"He is there for protection but he is not seeking political asylum," Tian Chua, the spokesman for Anwar's political party, said by telephone. "We just want to make sure that he is secure."

Turkish diplomats were not immediately available for comment.  

Earlier, Anwar said the charges were an attempt by the government to discredit him.

A former deputy premier who was sacked in 1998 and later jailed for sodomy and corruption, Anwar has seen a revival of his fortunes since a March poll when the opposition alliance recorded its best ever election result.

Anwar says he has won enough support from ruling coalition lawmakers to form a new government by September, sparking fears of a change in economic policy that have unsettled investors.

Anwar's private assistant, Saiful Bahari, lodged the police complaint.

"The police report lodged against me earlier today is a complete fabrication," Anwar said in a statement read out by his lawyer as about 200 of his supporters gathered outside the hotel where the news briefing was held.

Lawyer Sivarasa Rasiah said Anwar had not been arrested. An aide in Anwar's Justice Party said Anwar was waiting for police to take his statement.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Sabtu Osman was quoted by state news agency Bernama as saying police were investigating the complaint against Anwar, who accused the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition of trying to ruin him.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi dismissed Anwar's claims. "Barisan Nasional has no intention of wanting to make life difficult for him or to harass him," he told reporters in the administrative capital of Putrajaya after launching an environmental project. "There is no such intention."    

Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail said the police should be allowed to investigate the claims.

"The opposition has been trying to discredit us by doing a lot of things," parliamentary affairs minister Nazri Aziz said when contacted by telephone.

"Sometimes there are allegations made against members of the government and Anwar has made all the noise. Why is it that when things are against him that he is saying that we are trying to discredit him?"    

Anwar has always said the earlier sodomy and corruption charges were trumped up after he fell out with then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Anwar's opposition alliance has been snapping at the heels of Abdullah's government. Public anger against rising prices and the ruling coalition's dismal showing in the March poll have fuelled calls for a change in leadership.

The opposition alliance needs just 30 more seats to win a simple majority and form a new government. It won a record 82 seats in the 222-seat lower house of parliament in the March general election. The remaining seats are held by the ruling coalition which now leads the country.

Barisan suffered its worst electoral setback in 50 years in March when it lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority and ceded five states to the opposition. - Reuters