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
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.
‘Tell him to look in the mirror’: Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali trade barbs as sex video scandal escalates
“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.
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.
Six others – including 27-year-old politician Haziq Abdul Aziz, who claimed the video clips leaked in June showed him having a same-sex affair with Azmin – were detained on Monday.
Haziq is a former member of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, the biggest party in the country’s ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition, which is led by Anwar with Azmin as his deputy.
On Thursday, Anwar said he had the support needed to become prime minister and denied he had called for Azmin to resign.
Gay sex video leak: new Malaysia a bit like the old one as politics returns to the gutter
Anwar himself has been twice jailed over homosexuality charges he maintains were trumped up.
“I’ve got the numbers, I’ve got the support of Pakatan Harapan and the prime minister,” he told reporters in Parliament.
Hamid told the South China Morning Post “all the perpetrators” of the video scandal were in the country, and there might be one or two more arrests.
Azmin has denied being the person in the video, describing it as a“nefarious plot” to damage his reputation and destroy his political career.
The saga has heightened tensions within Pakatan Harapan, bringing it to the brink of a major internal showdown, according to party insiders.
