KUALA LUMPUR, May 26 — A self-professed IT freelancer alleged today the Save Malaysia movement had purchased the 1.2 million signatures it claimed to have collected for its petition calling for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s resignation.

In a statutory declaration (SD) distributed to the media this afternoon, the 30-year-old Azharuddin Othman claimed that the signatures were obtained from the national voter database that was in his possession, and that he agreed to sell for RM5,000.

"I was offered RM5,000 to provide the 1.2 million signatures. I was told that the database was for the Citizens Declaration memorandum to be sent to the DYMM Agong," the nervous looking Azharuddin told reporters at a press conference here.

But the IT freelancer said despite honouring his side of the bargain, he only received RM1,000.

When asked if he would have not made the deal public if he was paid in full, Azharuddin claimed he would.

“Yes I would have.”

The Save Malaysia group comprising politicians from the ruling coalition, opposition and non-partisan activists claimed two weeks ago that its citizen movement had collected 1.271 million signatures, out of which 1.07 million were done online and another 200,000 signatures on printed forms.

Azharuddin claimed to have kept his correspondence with the person who made the offer.

He also said in his statutory declaration that the person had made it clear that Save Malaysia intended to dishonestly use the signatures for its campaign.

Azharuddin did not explain how he had obtained the database apart from saying that he had gathered them when he worked as a volunteer for a political party.

He also did not state if he had sold the data to other buyers prior to the deal he made with the person claiming to have represented Save Malaysia.

The Save Malaysia movement said in April it planned to hand over one million signatures to the Conference of Rulers asking the monarchs to intervene in the country’s political situation.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on May 14 the federal government is not legally or even morally obliged to act on the one million signatures.