Malaysia's top cop: Sex video is conspiracy led by political leader
Malaysian police chief says political party leader led conspiracy to damage reputation of an individual, large sums of money paid
The sex video scandal continues to be a hot topic after Malaysia's Inspector General of Police yesterday said investigations revealed that there is an evil conspiracy led by a political party leader to humiliate and damage the reputation of an individual.
Mr Abdul Hamid Bador said the gay sex video, which was spread to cause unrest among the public, was produced by parties paid hundreds of thousands of ringgit.
A Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) youth leader, Mr Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz, claimed last month he is one of the men in the video. He also claimed the other man was Economics Affairs Minister Azmin Ali.
Mr Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president, has vehemently denied this.
The police have so far arrested nine people in connection with the case, including Mr Haziq and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim's political secretary Farhash Mubarak.
Mr Abdul Hamid said there is a high probability that the clips are genuine but added that authorities were unable to identify the two men through facial recognition techniques.
"It is a high probability that the video is genuine, but facial recognition came back negative. It could not link those in the video with any individual," he said in a statement yesterday.
The incident has casued a rift in PKR, a component of the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition.
Mr Anwar yesterday downplayed the war of words that arose between him and his deputy Mr Azmin on the matter, saying he may have been misunderstood.
Mr Anwar said Mr Azmin probably did not fully comprehend his remarks as reported by the media.
On Wednesday, Mr Anwar suggested that Mr Azmin should resign if he was conclusively identified as one of the two men in a viral sex video.
The same day, Mr Azmin said Mr Anwar should "look at the man in the mirror".
"Read my lips... Tell him he must look at the man in the mirror," said Mr Azmin, adding that Mr Anwar should reflect on his own actions.
Mr Anwar said yesterday: "Azmin (probably) said that without reading the full statement (that I made).
"He is undergoing a very difficult period, and I will certainly not respond to a spontaneous outburst.
"So I don't feel upset (over Azmin's outburst), but I thought he should have read the full text."
SIGNED STATEMENT
Mr Anwar was also chastised by 27 PKR leaders in a signed statement.
"As YB Dato' Seri Azmin Ali has stated a categoric denial of the video, he (Mr Anwar) should as the Party President stand by his deputy in the interest of party unity - and not seek to undermine him using speculation," the group said in the statement.
The 27 who signed a joint statement include 23 out of the 64 members of the central leadership council, the party's highest decision-making body.
When asked about the statement, Mr Anwar said some of those who signed had misunderstood his statement.
However, he also acknowledged that these were good intentions to unite the party.
"I accept their explanation that perhaps I should have just said that we should leave the matter to the police," added Mr Anwar. - THE STAR
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
