KANGAR (Bernama): The Kangar Sessions Court has issued a warrant of arrest against former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim for failing to be present in court to face charges, believed related to the case where he allegedly molested an underage girl.

The arrest warrant was issued by Sessions Court judge Johari Abu Hassan on Friday after Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Nordin Ismail applied for it.

Counsel Syed Muhamad Anwar Syed Lokman Hakim, representing Shahidan, who is the Member of Parliament for Arau, had objected to the issuance of the arrest warrant, saying that neither his client nor he had been informed about this earlier.

“I only got know about this (warrant of arrest) in court. My client is out of the country,” he said.

He added that the defence would be filing for a revocation of the arrest warrant.

“This is a high profile case involving a politician. Shahidan is domiciled in Perlis and has not run away,” he said.

Based on the status uploaded on his Facebook, Shahidan is in Mecca performing the umrah (minor haj).

Recently, news went viral that Shahidan had allegedly molested a girl who was just 15 years and 11 months old. It is alleged that the girl is from a buskers group that he sponsors.

The incident is alleged to have happened on Oct 21.

Shahidan, however, denied it and said that the police report lodged against him on this had been withdrawn.

The father of the girl had also stated that the matter had been amicably resolved and the family deemed that there was no need to blow it out of proportion. – Bernama