Umno Youth vice-chief Khairul Azwan Harun's insistence that his police report against the ‘tan sri trio’ was legitimate, is a slap to the face of inspector-general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar, said a former Umno leader.

Former Batu Kawan Umno vice-chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan said this is because Khalid had already said the report was based on assumptions.

“It’s a slap to the IGP’s face... It's very embarrassing for the IGP because Khairul Azwan had contradicted his statement,” Khairuddin told Malaysiakini.

He added that if Khairul Azwan felt he was wrong, he would have made an apology instead of sticking to his guns.

The Umno Youth number two lodged a police report last week against former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, ex-attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail and former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Abu Kassim Mohamed.

He claimed they had falsified evidence against Najib Abdul Razak in their bid to topple the prime minister and the government.

Khairul Azwan was then questioned by police, but Khalid later said they would not pursue the case as it was based on assumption, and let the youth leader off the hook with a warning.

Khairul Azwan however stuck by his report yesterday, insisting that it was not based on assumption, and bragging that Umno Youth had foiled a plot against Najib.

Khairuddin said the top cop must now probe the Umno Youth vice-chief again to determine if he actually has any evidence.

“Khairul Azwan is not an idiot, he knows the law, he knows what he is doing, so is the IGP doing a cover-up on behalf of Umno Youth?”

“But if Khairul Azwan made a false report, then he knowingly did it, so the IGP should take action and be firm, set a precedent so that people don’t dare to make false reports.”