Harakah editor-in-chief Zulkifli Sulong was today questioned by the police over the publication of 'secret' letters regarding the Election Commission's controversial plan to hire part-time election workers from among the Puteri Umno ranks.

He told malaysiakini that a team of four officers from the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters came to his office in Jalan Pahang at 4pm to record his statement over how the PAS organ obtained the letters.

"They questioned me for about 30 minutes and recorded my statement under section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code. They said the investigations was done under the Official Secrets Act," he said.

Zulkifli said the police also seized a copy of one of the letters - written by Election Commission deputy secretary Patimah Mohd Yusof on May 6 - which he had kept in his office.

"They wanted to know who gave me the letter, which we had published in our latest edition last week," he said.

PAS MP next on the list

Zulkifli, who was found guilty of sedition earlier this year, said Harakah decided to cooperate with the police as "we have nothing to fear".

He added that he was the only Harakah journalist to be interviewed by the police.

However, Zulkifli believed that Kuala Terengganu member of parliament Dr Syed Azman Syed Ahmad Nawawi - who called a press conference in Parliament last Wednesday on the scandal - could be next to be interviewed by the police.

Early this week, Election Commission chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman confirmed that his secretary Wan Ahmad Wan Omar had lodged a police report against the leaking of the "secret" letters, which were made public by PAS parliamentarians.

The letters exposed an alleged agreement between the commission with Umno to hire members of its Puteri wing as part-time election workers.

Collusion denied

Abdul Rashid however denied any suggestion of a collusion between EC and Puteri Umno.

He told malaysiakini that he agreed to hire Puteri Umno members following a request from the wing's chief Azalina Othman Said to take on board several "jobless women".

PAS has since accepted his explanations and agreed to let the matter rest.

The issue was first raised by the opposition party's former Youth chief Mahfuz Omar in Parliament last June. Last week, he distributed the letters written by EC top official Patimah along with another letter, sent by Azalina to the EC chief ( right ).

Patimah's letter instructed all EC state officials to keep the now aborted plan to hire Puteri Umno members a 'secret'.

The second letter, which was written a few months earlier, contained handwritten notes by Wan Ahmad and Abdul Rashid approving Azalina's request.

"The document is confidential. Maybe it does not have a confidential stamp on it, but it is nevertheless classified," Abdul Rashid had earlier told malaysiakini .

He said that the EC wanted to find out who among its staff had leaked the documents to PAS

Those found guilty of violating the Official Secrets Act are liable to at least a mandatory one year imprisonment.