Malaysia Minister Provides Statement on Sex Videos to Police

(Bloomberg) -- Malaysia’s Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali, a leading member of the ruling party, provided a statement to police as part of their investigation into a series of sex videos allegedly implicating him.

The probe was opened after Azmin’s political secretary lodged a police report over the videos, his lawyer N Surendran said in a statement Tuesday. The clips depicting two men engaged in sexual acts were distributed to journalists over WhatsApp last week, and police have set up a task force to ascertain their authenticity, the Star reported.

“That it’s politically motivated is obvious from the known and undisputed facts,” Surendran said by phone. “Azmin is a key political leader in Malaysia and it is clear that some powerful quarters see him as a threat.”

Azmin is deputy president of the People’s Justice Party led by Anwar Ibrahim, who was subjected to similar smear campaigns in 1998 and 2008 that resulted in his imprisonment over two separate jail terms on sodomy charges, which he has always denied. He was granted a royal pardon last year, shortly after the new government took over.

In a February report, Eurasia Group said Azmin was positioning himself as a future prime minister candidate as the preferred choice of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has repeatedly said he would hand over power to Anwar. Azmin has denied he’s interested in the job, telling reporters in January that Anwar would take over as agreed last year when the government was formed.

‘Dirty’ Politics

Mahathir last week dismissed the sex videos, saying they were evidence of “dirty” politics, according to the Star.

“If you cannot compete with someone, don’t do something like this,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Police detained a member of Anwar’s party -- Haziq Aziz -- on Friday, after he claimed in a video on Facebook to be one of the two men in the clips. Haziq was released on police bail the next day, according to the Straits Times. Azmin has denied all allegations against him.

“Judging from recent political developments, this is clearly the latest in a series of concerted attempts over the past few months to vilify me, which includes intimidation against the safety of my family and I in the final week of Ramadan, and vile and baseless accusations of corruption,” Azmin said in a statement last week.

--With assistance from Philip J. Heijmans.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anisah Shukry in Kuala Lumpur at ashukry2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Yudith Ho at yho35@bloomberg.net, Ruth Pollard

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