The police report on Puteri Umno pro-tem chief Azalina Othman Said's alleged misconduct was lodged a few days after the complainants had consulted Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, malaysiakini learnt today.

The wing members, including those in the exco line-up who claimed to be indiscriminately sacked by Azalina, had met the prime minister on Sept 9 to seek his advice on the appropriate action they could take against her in order to save Puteri Umno from a "not credible" leadership.

According to a Puteri Umno member who requested anonymity, the prime minister had told the group that "the matter should be handled by the police".

Among others, they told Mahathir that they have been receiving various kind of threats including from thugs (in an incident, a knife was placed on Elly Zalilah Yusof's car windscreen). This happened after Elly was sacked from the two-year-old wing by Azalina.

Malaysiakini was also informed that the group of six who met Mahathir had explained to the 77-year-old party president all discrepancies under Azalina's leadership and the complaints they received against her from many Puteri members.

Did the right thing

"We simply carried out did what the prime minister told us," said the Puteri Umno member, who claimed that she was one of those "victimised" by Azalina.

"To us, we believe what we did was right since the advice came from the prime minister himself," she said.

Azalina's one-time close aide Elly ( photo ), in her Sept 12 press conference at a Kuala Lumpur hotel a day after she lodged a police report at the Brickfields police station refused to name the "senior Umno leader" whom she had approached.

However, the Sept 12 press conference, held to explain the police report, had landed Elly into trouble as she was slapped with a show-cause letter from Umno.

This was due to the report lodged by the Puteri Umno leadership to the party's disciplinary committee, claiming that Elly had breached party's ethics for holding a press conference to expose the wrongdoings of the wing's chief.

On Monday, the 26-year-old businesswoman pleaded not guilty before the Umno disciplinary committee panel members chaired by Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen during the seven-hour hearing.

Elly, who was accompanied by four others Maz Ayu, Rohaya Atan, Shalina Azhar and Nazariah Said who were present as witnesses in the case.

Lesbian allegation

The turmoil in Puteri Umno began in April when a Malay tabloid, Perdana Sari claimed that Azalina was a lesbian and had purchased a luxury car for her lover using the wing's funds.

The crisis flared in recent weeks in the run-up to the wing's inaugural election scheduled on Nov 1.

So far five members had expressed their desire to contest the top post but had yet to receive a single nomination from the wing's divisions, while Azalina has bagged 52 nominations.

Puteri Umno constitution states that to be eligible to contest, a candidate must receive a minimum of two nominations.

The 38-year-old Azalina was handpicked by Mahathir to lead the party's youngest wing which was formed to attract younger women into the Malay-based party.