KUALA LUMPUR: PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said his deputy Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali must go on leave immediately if it was proven that he is the one implicated in a series of sex videos that have gone viral.
“I am of the view that if the videos are authentic, then he (Mohamed Azmin) must go on leave, but that is what we hear, there is no confirmation , if the videos are not authentic, he need not go on leave,” he told a press conference at the Parliament lobby yesterday.
Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali
He was responding to reporters questions whether Mohamed Azmin, who is also Economic Affairs Minister, should go on leave or resign from his posts.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday had said that it was up to a leader whether to go on leave or continue with his or her duties as long as not proven guilty of any accusations.
Also Tuesday, PKR information chief Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin in a media statement had asked that any leader facing accusations of misconduct should go on leave voluntarily pending investigations by the authorities.
Meanwhile, asked about the arrest of a Perak PKR leader in connection with the viralling of the videos, Anwar said: “I was not informed about it. If it comes under the investigation process, we leave it to the police.”
Former Santubong PKR Youth chief Haziq Aziz has gone on record to say that he is one of the two men in the videos and claimed that the other person is Mohamed Azmin.
Mohamed Azmin has denied this saying that videos were the work of people out to destroy his political career.
Police have arrested nine people including Haziq to facilitate investigations into the sex videos.
In Klang, Selangor Pakatan Harapan chairman Amirudin Shari called for a stop to speculative statements regarding the case and let police do their job.
Let us not make assumptions whether the videos are genuine or not, it in no way helps us face such gutter politics,” the Selangor Menteri Besar told reporters. — Bernama