GOMBAK, June 16 — Datuk Seri Azmin Ali said today the PKR leadership must “take a bold decision” to investigate claims that factions within the party were responsible for the leaked sex video implicating him.
Azmin called the allegations alarming, noting that the perpetrator had access to the mobile numbers of nearly all key PKR figures, indicating the person or group held key positions within the party.
“I was told that even the circulation is (sic) no longer based on Facebook or Instagram because they want to avoid the identification of the IP address,” Azmin told reporters at a Hari Raya open house event in Gombak this morning.
“And they circulated through the WhatsApp group... and this group contained all the numbers of the division leaders and also the lower rank office bearers at the divisional level.
“I don’t have access to the information. So the question now is who provided this information?”
Speculation that PKR insiders were behind the video grew after some party leaders were seen accompanying Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz at the Dang Wangi District Police Headquarters in the capital last night.
Haziq had confessed to being the person performing a sex act in the video with a man said to resemble Azmin. The former was released on police bail.
Azmin had vehemently denied the allegation and called the video a vile character assassination attempt.
Meanwhile, PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim after chairing the party’s political bureau meeting on Wednesday condemned those behind the video and expressed his support for his deputy.
Azmin, however, was notably absent from the meeting.
Today was the first time the economic affairs minister had publicly call for an internal investigation, an indicator of how serious the PKR leader considers the allegation that the sex video was the result of an escalating factional tiff.
“I leave it to you to decide and interpret,” he remarked.
“But certainly, this is something that is alarming, that the leadership must take a bold decision to investigate.”
The three-minute sex video that featured two men was broken into three parts and circulated over the span of three days on a WhatsApp group created with an extensive list, including senior ministers, politicians and journalists.
The text messaging group also included PKR leaders at all levels from Sabah, Sarawak and peninsular Malaysia, Azmin stressed.
“Certainly, that warrants an investigation,” Azmin added.
At the moment, Azmin has filed reports with several authorities including the police and the Federal Territories Islamic Affairs Department. Both agencies said they are probing the matter now.
As speculation around the sex video’s origin intensifies, Anwar last night denied claims of his supporters’ involvement. The PKR president told the press in Port Dickson that he does not consider Azmin a threat.
Azmin was asked by the media if he would file a complaint with the party’s internal disciplinary board but stopped short of confirming, and merely said he had taken the necessary action by filing complaints with all relevant investigative bodies.
“I have done my part... let the authorities conduct their investigation freely without any interruption,” he replied.
*A previous version of this story contained errors which have since been corrected.
