KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 — Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar claimed today that Australia’s ABC Network intentionally aired a documentary critical of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as retaliation against the recent arrests of its two reporters by the Malaysian authorities in Sarawak.

Khalid told reporters in Johor Baru that the Four Corners show had deliberately attempted to link Najib to the murder of AmBank founder Hussain Ahmad Najidi and Deputy Public Prosecutor Kevin Morais out of vengeance, in a bid to tarnish the prime minister’s image.

“Four Corners is actually vindictive because we arrested two of their reporters for violating safety protocols in Sarawak, so they tried to link the prime minister to the murder of Kevin Morais and Hussain,” Malay paper Sinar Harian quoted Khalid as saying.

“Didn’t I already say that the death of Hussain Ahmad Najadi had nothing to do with 1MDB and so was Kevin Morais’ death, which is not related to 1MDB or the Attorney-General,” he added, referring to state-owned firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The Four Corners documentary titled State of Fear: Money and Murder in Malaysia was aired on March 28 on Australia’s ABC channel.

In the documentary, ABC reporters alleged the murder of Morais and Hussain were related to the 1MDB affair and the investigation into the RM2.6 billion that was deposited into Najib’s private AmBank account, which was later declared to be a political donation from a donor from the Middle East.

The documentary has since been widely shared on the Internet.

Najib and his government have denied the allegation and Attorney-General Tan Sri Apandi Ali has also cleared the prime minister of any wrongdoing.

The two ABC reporters, Linton Besser and Louie Eroglu, were arrested on March 12 and held for six hours at the Padawan district police headquarters for allegedly breaking a security cordon to get to the prime minister and refusing to comply with orders to remain behind the security line.

Both men have, however, maintained that no security breach had transpired as claimed, and that they were arrested because they had wanted to ask the prime minister “tough questions”.

The duo was then sent on a plane to Singapore after charges against them for obstructing a public servant were dropped.