Police question 3 PN activists in Dubai Move probe

Three individuals linked to Perikatan Nasional have given their statements to the police over allegations of their involvement in the purported Dubai Move.

Blogger Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris was called to the Setapak police station in Kuala Lumpur earlier this afternoon to be questioned.

Bersatu information committee member Badrul Hisham Shaharin and social media influencer Salim Iskandar, on the other hand, volunteered to give their statements to the police.

Wan Muhammad (above, left), better known as Papagomo, said he received a call from a police officer from Bukit Aman two days ago, who asked him to appear to give his statement.

Wan Muhammad was questioned over a police report made by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s senior political secretary Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, who claimed he was involved in the alleged plot.

“I have told the police that I am not involved, and only know about this Dubai Move only from media reports made by the deputy director-general of J-Kom (Community Communications Department deputy director-general Ismail Yusop),” he said when met by reporters today.

“I was also questioned about Raja Petra Kamaruddin’s claims, and I replied that I did not know about those allegations,” he added.

He claimed they were “slandered” over their alleged link to the plot, after Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain had previously implicated them in the Dubai Move.

Disrespect for democratic processes

On Jan 9, the police chief said the trio were being investigated under Section 124C of the Penal Code for activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

Razarudin said the main suspect is blogger Raja Petra but since he is in London, police will quiz others instead.

Badrul also criticised the actions of the Anwar-led government for allegedly disrespecting democratic processes.

He said Anwar in the past had made claims about previous prime ministers not having majority support.

“Before the recent Sabah election, Anwar also announced that the government had lost its majority.

“But at that time, no party made a police report (due to the government’s claim that there was no majority), because all parties respected the democratic process,” he said.

Over 140 police reports

Meanwhile, in a statement later, Razarudin confirmed the police had summoned the trio to have their statements recorded today, in addition to J-Kom’s Ismail who also had his statement recorded.

The police chief said they have received 145 police reports on the matter.

Razarudin also said the police have launched an investigation over allegations that PN attempted to bribe the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong in a bid to overthrow the government.

Four police reports were received on this issue, which is being investigated under Section 500 of the Penal Code (criminal defamation) and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (abuse of network facilities).

“The case is still under investigation and the police advise the public not to make any speculation or comment that could interfere with the investigation,” he said.

PN chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin had denounced the bribery allegation - which first appeared on a blog - as “vile, excessive and outrageous slander”.

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