Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak has urged Malaysians to cast doubt on the credibility of whistleblower website Sarawak Report.

Salleh said whatever that has been reported by Sarawak Report was untrue and that this was confirmed by one of the website's former editors.

"Sarawak Report is an online paper with the sole purpose of slandering our leaders.

"As we already know, there are documents that they tampered with. Their credibility was questioned.

"So the fact is, all of it was untrue. Their former editor had said so," Salleh told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.

Salleh was referring to former Sarawak Tribune editor Lester Melanyi, who claims to have worked with Sarawak Report - an allegation that the website has denied.

Lester admitted in 2015 that he had been paid to make a confession video about how the whistleblower site's exposés on scandal-riddled 1MDB were fabricated.

In view of this, Salleh urged Malaysians to be careful and not trust Sarawak Report.

Although Salleh did not mention it, it was likely that he was referring to Sarawak Report's recent article on the alleged RM9.5 million payment by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to prominent lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

The payment was allegedly linked to Anwar Ibrahim's trial for sodomy. Following this, Anwar filed a legal challenge against his conviction.

Najib has refused comment on this matter, while Shafee said he would respond at a later date. Malaysiakini is not able to independently verify the claims of Sarawak Report.

Salleh's comments echo those made yesterday by Umno supreme council member and Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid, who said Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown was an "outsider" bent on discrediting Malaysia.

Former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan has also criticised the news site, questioning if it had a hidden agenda to "bring ruin or chaos to the country".