Malaysian police appear to clear Azmin Ali in gay sex scandal, point to ‘evil conspiracy’ behind video

Facial recognition technology has failed to identify the person seen in a leaked clip as the economic affairs minister

But the ‘leader of a political party’ paid ‘hundreds of thousands of ringgit’ to produce and distribute the video, police say

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Azmin has denied being the person in the video, describing it as a“nefarious plot” to damage his reputation and destroy his political career. Photo: EPA

Published: 8:31pm, 18 Jul 2019Updated: 8:55pm, 18 Jul 2019

Malaysian police on Thursday appeared to effectively clear Economics Affairs Minister Azmin Ali of being involved in a gay-sex video scandal, saying it was the work of the “leader of a political party” who had paid “hundreds of thousands of ringgit” for its production and distribution.

Facial recognition identification technology had failed to identify the parties in the video, said police inspector-general Hamid Bador in a press statement.

“The process of the facial recognition is negative and could not link the person in the video to an individual in question,” he said, without naming Azmin.

“Investigations by the Royal Malaysian Police show that there is an evil conspiracy masterminded by the leader of a political party, with the aim of bringing down and ruining the reputation of a certain individual.”

Azmin reacted positively in a short tweet soon after the police statement.

Consensual sex between men is illegal in Malaysia, and carries penalties of jail and whipping if convicted.

Hamid’s statement comes two days after three people, including the political secretary to prime-minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim, were arrested as part of the unfolding scandal.

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