PETALING JAYA: Selangor Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari will be hauled up by the PKR disciplinary board to answer for statements he made about the gay sex video implicating Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
He is among several party leaders, including Perak PKR chief Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, who will have to appear before the board to explain their statements.
PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil said the decision was made at a meeting of the party’s political bureau on Wednesday night.
“The board will contact both of them as well as several other party members over this issue,“ Fahmi said in a statement.
Amirudin, who is also Selangor PKR chief and an ally of Mohamed Azmin, had earlier hinted that he knew who masterminded the production and distribution of the video.
While speaking at a special prayer session for Mohamed Azmin, he said the “mastermind” was someone who had suffered a similar “dark period” in the past and had based his political struggle on the scandal.
Farhash, who is also Anwar’s political secretary, had earlier challenged Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid Bador to arrest Mohamed Azmin.
He alleged that there was a political conspiracy against Anwar, and even courted controversy by branding Mohamed Azmin as “semburit” (gay) after he was released from remand on Tuesday.
Mohamed Azmin is deputy president of PKR as well as the Economic Affairs minister.
Farhash later issued a statement explaining that he was acting out of anger but he remained convinced that his arrest was “meant to create a negative perception” of Anwar.
He said the questioning by police were not related to the video.
In June, a video depicting two men in a compromising position in bed surfaced on social media.
Shortly after, former PKR Santubong youth chief Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz admitted in another video that he was one of the two men and that the other man was Mohamed Azmin.
More videos appeared in subsequent days but Mohamed Azmin maintained that he was not the one featured. He has consistently denied any involvement in the making and distribution of the video.
Haziq, who was private secretary to Deputy Primary Industries Minister Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, was eventually sacked from PKR.
He and several others were later arrested.
On another matter, Fahmi said a copy of the resolution to support Anwar as party president has been sent to 20 members of the leadership council.
The 20, allied to Mohamed Azmin, were not present at the retreat over the weekend where 120 of them voted in favour of the resolution.
Meanwhile, former party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also deputy prime minister, asserted that the dispute within the party would not affect the government administration.
Wan Azizah, who is Anwar’s wife, said many members supported Anwar as party president.
She added that there would always be internal disputes in political parties as not all members held the same views.
