Inspector-general of police (IGP) Ismail Omar has announced that “local experts” have confirmed that the sex video allegedly featuring a prominent opposition leader is not doctored.

NONE According to Bernama, Ismail ( left ) made the announcement based on the view of experts who were roped in to help investigate the case.

Police set up a team to probe the case after opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who denied allegations that he was the man in the video clip, had lodged a police report.  

Ismail said the special team from Bukit Aman investigating the video that surfaced two weeks ago, was in the closing stages of the probe and that the investigation papers would be handed over to the Attorney-General's Chambers soon.

"It is hereby announced that the (video) investigation is in the closing stages. This means that the police have accepted the experts' report on the authenticity of the video (recording).

"In other words, the recording is genuine," Ismail told reporters at the Police Training Centre (Pulapol), here.

Ismail, however, did not name the characters in the video clip.

IGP contradicts Hisham, 3 arrested

Ismail appeared to contradict Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein today when he said three individuals were arrested, but were released on police bail.

However, he declined to reveal the identities of the three.

NONE Hishammuddin ( right ) told Parliament yesterday that no one had been arrested in connection to the sex video.

The police would seek the assistance of anyone at all to help in the investigation into the case, he said.

The hidden camera video of the sex act was screened at Carcosa Seri Negara, Kuala Lumpur, on March 21, to a select guest list that included senior newspaper editors, and later shown to selected politicians.

The perpetrators of the screening of the pornographic video, a trio called Datuk T, later revealed themselves to be former Malacca chief minister Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik, Perkasa treasurer-general Shuaib Lazim and a businessman Shazryl Eskay Abdullah, who is currently embroiled in a court case related to the Johor-Singapore ‘ crooked bridge ’.

Police action on the Datuk T members remains elusive.    

One woman trainee hospitalised

Meanwhile, on the adenovirus infection, Ismail said only one woman police trainee was at Kuala Lumpur Hospital while six other trainees had been quarantined.

"The woman trainee is not in serious condition and is in a normal ward," he said.

"The situation at Pulapol is normal. Soon, the basic training for inspectors and constables will resume. I took a look at the measures taken by the Pulapol commandant to ensure cleanliness there," he said.

Ismail said he had asked the Pulapol authorities to carry out a "gotong-royong" (self-help) clean-up of the area. Three Pulapol trainees have died of adenovirus infection.

PKR's communications director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, meanwhile, has told Malaysiakini in response to Ismail's statement, "We acknowledge that it is not CGI (computer-generated imagery) but the question now is (who is the) actor in the video?"

'Police smokescreen'

Meanwhile, another party veep N Surendran slammed the IGP over the announcement, saying that the authenticity of the video was not the issue.

"The issue of the authenticity of the video is a red herring, and  a politically motivated attempt at confusing the issue so as to smear and tarnish Anwar's reputation.

"What is of real public concern is why the police and Attorney-General's chambers have yet to institute criminal proceedings against the three persons who have publicly confessed to being guilty of possessing and publicly exhibiting the obscene video which are offences under the Penal Code and Film Censorship Act 2002.

"Why the special treatment meted out to these particular offenders? Unusually, the IGP made his announcement on the aspect of the authenticity of the video despite admitting also that the probe on the sex video is not yet complete," he said in a statement.

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