KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has denied defending Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali after the Economic Affairs Minister found himself in the middle of a gay sex video scandal that went viral last month.
“I am not defending him,” he told reporters after the launch of the National Strategy for Financial Literacy 2019-2023, here, today.
“I am saying dirty kind of politics like this will not trap me into being a part of it,” he added, when asked if his apparent defence of Azmin would mean the latter will not face any charges pertaining to the sex clips.
Earlier yesterday, in a blog posting, Mahathir had said will resist any attempts by any parties to use him to kill off the political career of Azmin.
“They are hoping with these videos, the targeted person would be disqualified, and that this action can be taken by me, as I am a person in power.
“If I take such action, then their plan will succeed. But I will not be toyed, especially by the mastermind with evil intentions and using gutter politics,” he wrote.
Speaking to the press, Mahathir said the mastermind behind the videos should not be let scot-free, particularly if the identity of the individuals involved is been confirmed.
“If we can find and identify them, who actually produced the videos and circulated them on the internet, I think they should be punished. This is not the kind of politics we want,” he said.
Asked if he knew who the mastermind was, Mahathir merely said: “I am not the investigator.”
Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid Bador had previously said that mastermind is a leader of a political party, and that the person had possibly paid out hundreds of thousands of ringgit to produce the sex tapes.
On Sunday, Azmin said he knew the identity of the mastermind, but declined to disclose any names, saying it was the authorities’ prerogative to do so.
Meanwhile, when asked if a high-ranking political leader would be summoned by the police in the near future, Hamid said police investigations was still actively ongoing, and that he was also focusing on various other issues.
“As I said, service delivery, I want to improve on that. Don’t drag me and get me bogged down in all these. When I said investigation is going on, it is going on. Once it’s completed, I’ll forward the matter to the Attorney-General,” he said.
