A police attempt to search the office of PKR information chief Tian Chua today failed as the politician was away attending a court case at the Jalan Duta court complex.

It is believed that they were there as part of their investigations into a doctored photograph.

According to a statement from PKR, five policemen arrived at the PKR headquarters in Brickfields at about 3.30pm today, claiming to have a warrant to search Chua's office.

At that time there were only two party workers at the office. They claimed not to know where Chua's office was located.

After waiting for about 15 minutes, the police party which was led by ASP Shahrizal Mat Deris from the Sentul district police headquarters left the building.

Shahrizat has previously questioned Chua in the same building on Aug 16 ( photo ).

Chua is being investigated based on a police report by the Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma) on a doctored photograph portraying Deputy Premier Najib Abdul Razak dining with political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda and slain Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Abdul Razak is accused of abetting in Altantuya's death last October.

Najib is close to Abdul Razak, 47, but has vehemently denied any involvement in the case. The other two accused are police officers attached to the special unit tasked with protecting top government leaders.

Intimidation method

Chua had previously said that he would not apologise for posting the photograph, which was based on a claim made in court during the ongoing murder trial.

On Monday Chua was called in for questioning by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), based on a report lodged by Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

When contacted today, Chua said the police presence at the PKR headquarters was a "typical pattern of harassment and another intimidation method by the authorities".

He said that he was not given a prior notice about the search in his office.

Chua, who was on his way to Simpang Renggam to attend a ceramah programme with PKR's de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, said he would review the matter once he returned to Kuala Lumpur later today.