KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has dismissed PAS’ claims of a purported coup within Pakatan Harapan against Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s leadership, saying they could very well be lies.

The Star Online quoted the PKR president as saying that PAS’ allegations are aimed to covering up the issue of the RM90 million it allegedly received from Umno.

"Nobody wants to comment because they think it is a non-issue and a PAS attempt to deflect focus from the money taken from 1MDB,” he reportedly said.

PAS said it is supporting Dr Mahathir to remain as prime minister until the next general election since the latter is seemingly "alone” in Pakatan Harapan (PH) in defending Malay-Muslim interests.

In a statement yesterday, party information chief Nasrudin Hassan alleged that there is a movement to unseat Dr Mahathir as prime minister, which he said may adversely affect Islam and the Malays if successful.

Yesterday, PAS confirmed it has thrown its support behind the leadership of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad until the next general election.

Its secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said in a statement, after the party’s central committee meeting in Marang, that PAS had issued a document expressing the party’s commitment to Dr Mahathir.

But Anwar said he doubts the validity of such a document.

"They have koshered (halalkan) lying, so we don’t know if it’s true or not. As they’ve said, one can lie if need be to save the party, so we don’t know if it is true or not,” he said.