The Johor palace has condemned a fake news article published in a Singapore-based portal that linked Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim to Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz's scathing remarks against billionaire Robert Kuok.

President of the Johor Council of Royal Court Abdul Rahim Ramli cautioned all quarters against linking the state ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar and the crown prince to political issues.

“I strongly condemn the action of Singapore's The Independent paper of using and manipulating the crown prince of Johor's statement on a political issue between Nazri and Kuok.

“The crown prince has never made any statement on the issue.

“The legal team of the Johor royal family and the Johor chief of police will pursue necessary actions,” he added in a statement.

Abdul Rahim (photo) emphasised that all statements from the sultan or crown prince are only released through The Royal Johor (Royal Press Office) official page, Johor Southern Tigers official page and The Star newspaper.

“If there are any statements from sources other than what I have mentioned, such statements are not true at all,” he said.

A check by Malaysiakini revealed that The Independent had removed the article, titled “Johor-crown prince chides no balls Malaysian minister”.

There was also an editor's note, which read: “The following article has not met our editorial standards and has been duly retracted. It was the result of a process that on this occasion failed to rise to our standards of argument and editorial treatment. For this failure and for the grievances caused, we apologise.”

Nazri had rained insults on the Hong Kong-based Kuok following an allegation by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin that the business magnate was bankrolling DAP.

Kuok and DAP have denied the allegation. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has also instructed Raja Petra to remove articles related to the matter.

Meanwhile, Johor police chief Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd said a report has been lodged on the article published in The Independent and the matter is being investigated under Section 500 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.

Mohd Khalil advised all media agencies to verify the authenticity of a news item before publishing it.