Newly-minted Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has assured that his predecessor Muhyiddin Yassin will not be arrested.
Zahid, who is also home minister, said this in response to rumours that Muhyiddin will be detained after a leaked video showed the latter implicating Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of receiving RM2.6 billion into his personal bank accounts.
“I have received a lot of calls from concerned people asking whether it is true that the former deputy prime minister was to be arrested. I assured them he is not.
“This rumour is totally nonsense. I have called the attorney-general and the inspector-general of police to verify the allegation, and they answered in the negative.
“I then called (Muhyiddin) personally at 2am (yesterday) to assure him and his wife that the police were not coming after them,” said Zahid in an interview with The Star published today.
Zahid said there is no reason for Muhyiddin to be arrested and warned the public against spreading such rumours.
“I will not hesitate to take action against these rumour-mongers. These rumours are malicious,” Zahid was quoted saying.
Muhyiddin was dropped as deputy prime minister on Tuesday for criticising Najib's handling of 1MDB.
On the same night, several close friends visited Muhyiddin's residence in Kuala Lumpur, where he confided in them that he had confronted Najib about Wall Street Journal's allegation that RM2.6 billion was deposited into the PM’s private bank accounts.
In the video, Muhyiddin claimed that Najib had admitted to this and said the money came from the Middle East.
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