SUBANG JAYA, May 12 — Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali now says former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife Datin Rosmah Mansor are barred from leaving the country, just hours after denying they were on a travel blacklist today.
A notice on the blacklist was posted on the Immigration Department’s Facebook page moments ago.
“Yes, confirm,” Mustafar told Malay Mail when contacted to verify the posting.
He had said earlier neither Najib nor Rosmah were on the travel blacklist when contacted at 8.22am to verify a report by news portal Malaysiakini, which had conducted its own checks on the Immigration Department’s Travel Status Enquiry System (SSPI) using the identity card numbers of Najib and Rosmah.
According to Malaysiakini, Najib and Rosmah would be required to “refer to the nearest Immigration office”, a term previously used on several Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders when they were blacklisted from travelling overseas.
In contrast, those free to travel would see “no obstruction” on the SSPI if their identity card numbers were keyed in.
Malaysiakini added that it performed the SSPI search through a proxy because the website was inaccessible domestically earlier this morning.
The beleaguered Najib, hounded by allegations of fund misappropriation from sovereign investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, and Rosmah were previously reported scheduled to fly to Jakarta, Indonesia at 10am today.
However, the flight was later cancelled after a group of roughly 100 people turned up at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang Jaya, Selangor to bar Najib and his wife from leaving the country.
