Cops told me Sandakan hotel’s CCTV footage deleted, says Farhash

(FMT) – PKR’s Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak today stood by his claim of a conspiracy in his arrest over the gay sex video targetting Mohamed Azmin Ali, saying investigators had told him that CCTV recordings outside the room of a hotel in Sabah where the alleged tryst took place had been deleted.

Farhash said during his eight-day custody under police remand, he was asked a series of questions “unrelated to the video or the distribution of any illegal material”.

“I was under the impression that my remand order was to facilitate an investigation based on facts and not legitimising some faint conspiracy theory,” the Perak PKR chief said, a day after his release.

“When I asked them about the CCTV footage at Four Points, which will clearly show whether the two accused would have entered the same room, police said the footage had been deleted,” he said, referring to the hotel named by former Santubong PKR Youth chief Haziq Aziz in claiming he and Azmin had a sex tryst on May 11.

“A convenient fact that only throws back into the looming question of a conspiracy,” Farhash added.

FMT has contacted the Four Points hotel for a response.

Early this month, a video clip purportedly of CCTV footage from the Four Points hotel was uploaded on YouTube, showing individuals resembling Azmin, Haziq as well Azmin’s political secretary Hilman Idham passing by what looked like a hotel corridor.

Four Points had then said that it was aware of the video.

Azmin has strongly denied Haziq’s claim, saying it is part of a conspiracy to end his political career.

Farhash today repeated his claim of a “conspiracy”, saying investigators had followed “a clear set of instructions from someone above”.

“Some of the things asked was whether I had knowledge of a missing gadget (purportedly used for the recording of the sex video), names of venues that most Malaysians have heard or visited before, random times and dates of my whereabouts, but it felt like a waste of time because they did not need four days to ask all this.

“There were some days where I was only called to have a chat and kill time with them,” said Farhash, who is the political secretary to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

He said he was convinced that his arrest was to create a negative public perception against his boss, Anwar, adding that he was considered a convenient “buffer”.

“I was angry with Azmin and after I was freed, I verbally attacked him because if we as Malaysians need to respect the law, why has he been hiding behind the veil of privilege?”

Earlier today, PKR women’s chief called for disciplinary action against Farhash for using a homosexual label on Azmin when addressing supporters after his release yesterday.

“This is an open accusation in front of the crowd and media against the party’s number two leader. This warrants disciplinary action,” Haniza Talha told FMT.

Ending his speech to a group of supporters outside the Dang Wangi police station yesterday, Farhash shouted “Anwar for PM” and “Azmin semburit”.

Semburit means sexual acts between two men.