KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — Police will summon Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor to investigate an alleged defamation case related to the controversial “PASLeak” document.
Selangor Barisan Nasional (BN) information chief Isham Jalil said the investigation was initiated based on his police report in late April after Muhammad Sanusi refused to apologise and withdraw allegations for suggesting that he is the individual behind the “PASLeak” document.
According to the provision, he said Muhammad Sanusi could face two years imprisonment for criminal defamation under Section 499 of the Penal Code (Act 574) if convicted.
“Hopefully, this will be a lesson to politicians, especially to those who hold high positions in the government, to be more responsible in issuing statements and not slander the people or public,” said Isham in a Facebook post today.
The BN strategist was giving an update on the police investigation status regarding his report that was lodged on April 29 against Muhammad Sanusi’s claim that he was behind the “PASLeak” document.
Isham said slander that leads to defamation is old politics and there is a need to clean Malaysian politics from such disparagement towards positive and mature politics.
“There are many other things involving government and economic policies that we need to focus on and at the same time resolve to help the people,” he said in relation to the allegation made by a top state government official.
On April 29, Isham lodged a police report against Muhammad Sanusi after he accused the BN leader of being the individual behind the controversial “PASLeak” document that allegedly contained details of discussions and engagement to overthrow and incarcerate certain Umno leaders.
The allegation was made during a press conference in Alor Setar, Kedah on April 27 where Muhammad Sanusi said that the “PAS Leak” document was made by “cybertroopers” of parties who can benefit from the document, naming Isham as an example of an Umno leader.
The Jeneri assemblyman also claimed that Isham had an interest in the document, “was using the document” and “had the potential to create the document.”
The “PASLeak”document is a purported leaked political intelligence report containing the alleged findings of two PAS leaders after they reportedly engaged with several politicians from Umno, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang).
Among others, the document mentioned the idea of intervening in court cases to speed up the sentencing of Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
PAS leaders have since denied the authenticity of the document.
