Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan today denied that the police had deliberately imposed a specific ban against raising the issue of murdered Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu in the campaigns for the three by-elections.

He said the ban covered all on-going court cases in order to avoid any elements of subjudice.

musa hassan pc 021107 reflect "We never mentioned that politicians are prevented from talking about Altantuya (in ceramah). All we said was that they shouldn’t touch anything on on-going court cases," he told reporters after visiting the temporary police operations centre in Changkat Jering, Perak.

When pressed by reporters that the ban announced two days ago had specifically mentioned the Altantuya case, the police chief pinned the blame on the district officers.

"There is a mistake on the part of the district officers. We never mentioned any specific case, what we meant to say was any on-going court cases," he said.

He also dismissed the allegation by the opposition that the ruling was made in favour of Barisan Nasional.

"We are not against any political party. They are free to say anything. But at the same time, they have to abide by the law. Otherwise, there will be chaos," he said.

Two days ago, the Home Ministry issued the ban, preventing political parties from raising a number of controversial issues including the murder of the Mongolian woman.

bukit gantang nomination day najib altantuya and cartoons 290309 03 The high-profile case has been one of the main weapons in the opposition’s arsenal to attack incoming prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Political parties are also barred from bringing up the issue of the Perak sultan's decision to hand power over to BN.

However, both BN and Pakatan leaders have apparently ignore the ban and continue to bring up these controversial issues in their nightly ceramah .

FRU not involved

In a another development, Musa dismissed the allegation by PAS deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa that Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) personnel were deployed to guard BN party workers who were putting up campaign posters.

"FRU does not guard BN workers. They could be workers from the local councils or Election Commission, but the FRU does not do such a thing," he said.

"Or maybe they're just there coincidently, I would not know. All I know is that the FRU is not involved and they could just be there for safety purposes," he added.

Earlier today, Nasharuddin claimed that PAS had obtained video evidence of the matter.