Revelations this week from the Thai police regarding former PetroSaudi International (PSI) employee Xavier Andre Justo has put Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in a spot.

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang today asked Zahid to explain why on June 24 the minister told the media he has learned from the Thais that Justo claimed Malaysians asked him to tamper with information he had stolen from his former employer.

“This has now proven to be a lie, as the Thai police have said that Justo has admitted to the Thai police of blackmailing of PSI, using the thousands of emails and documents stolen from the company.

"But he denied tampering with the documents,” said Lim in a statement today.

“For weeks, the home minister, the inspector-general of police (IGP) and the Umno/BN government generally made fools of themselves with the story of ‘blackmail by tampered email’, as they seem incapable of understanding that there could be no blackmail if the emails had been ‘tampered’ or doctored - as any such ‘blackmail’ could be simply foiled by denying their truth or veracity.

“Now that the truth is finally established, that Justo never tampered with the PSI emails and documents, and the tale of ‘several Malaysians alleged to have directed Justo to manipulate and tamper with information stolen from his former employers, PSI’ was a pure concoction and figment of imagination, Zahid owe an explanation and apology to Malaysians for this canard and lie,” said the Gelang Patah MP.

PSI’s business dealings with debt-ridden 1MDB, Prime Minister Najib Razak’s pet project, has been the subject of various allegations of illegal fund transfers.

Thailand police arrested Justo last month after PSI lodged a report for alleged blackmail.

Zahid had said Justo during interrogation had mentioned names of several Malaysians who supposedly asked to manipulate facts.

However five days later, Zahid’s colleague Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the tampering claim was merely based on " logical assumption ".

'Who's responsible for lie?'

“How did this lie come about? Was it concocted by Zahid himself, or was he misled by the IGP or some other police officer without checking on its veracity?

“Shouldn’t someone take responsibility for this canard and lie and pay the price for it?” asked Lim.

He said it was all the more important for the minister to speak up, since the BN-linked New Straits Times had made a “blitzkrieg campaign of demonisation” against Justo and 1MDB’s whistleblowers.

Meanwhile, pointed out the veteran opposition leader, Najib has been unable to do the “simplest of things: to say yes or no to Wall Street Journal (WSJ) allegation that RM2.6 billion had been deposited into the prime minister’s personal bank accounts”.

The WSJ expose, said Lim, has however been both a “boon and a bane for the UMNO/BN coalition”.

On the bright side, he said, it has shadowed the other scandal dogging Umno, the Mara property imbroglio currently under Australian probe.

Lim said calls for Mara chairperson Annuar Musa to be sacked over the scandal has been eclipsed, and asked if the latter has dodged the bullet.

Has Annuar, whose tenure as Mara chairperson ended yesterday, been rewarded with re-appointment as Mara chairperson?” he asked.