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| PKR vice-president N Surendran yesterday accused “the political foes of Datuk Seri Anwar (pic)” of being the ones behind the new video |
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 — Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) are showing signs of their desperation to hold onto power following the release of a video clip showing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim using an apartment lift at the location where he was accused of patronising a foreign prostitute, says a PKR leader.
PKR vice-president N Surendran said Umno-BN will persist with such attacks ahead of the 13th general elections which are widely speculated to be called within a year.
“I want to state this as simply as possible; the political foes of Datuk Seri Anwar are behind this. They planned and created a fake video, and I am convinced that such attacks will continue to take place on a monthly basis. I dare say this has been done by Umno-BN, with the help of the authorities,” he said when contacted by The Malaysian Insider last night.
“As we have said since the previous video clip emerged, it is not hard to make such things in a technologically advanced world ... I am convinced that they will continue with what they are doing until the next election,” Surendan added.
The lawyer also said the colour of businessman Datuk Shahzryl Eskay Abdullah’s clothes in the first video viewed in March and distributed through the Internet was different from that seen in the new video clip that emerged yesterday.
He challenged Anwar’s political foes to debate key policies with him instead of resorting to unscrupulous tactics and attacks such as these.
The new video clip, which shows Anwar entering a lift at an apartment building where a sex video allegedly of the opposition leader and a prostitute is said to have been secretly recorded, was released yesterday by a pro-Umno blog.
The full-colour excerpt, published on the Papagomo blog, showed closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of Anwar entering an apartment building elevator accompanied by businessman Shazryl Eskay, who has alleged that he was with the PKR de facto leader on the day of the incident.
In the edited video composed of shots taken from several cameras throughout the building, Anwar, clad in a purple shirt, is seen entering and exiting the lift with a black-suited Shazryl Eskay.
The timestamp showed they entered the lift at 10.09pm and exited at 10.52pm on February 21, the same date that Anwar was alleged to have had sex with a prostitute from China, as revealed by the “Datuk T” trio in the form of a video on March 21.
The black-and-white sex video was then widely disseminated on Umno blogs following a closed-door screening to the media at the swanky Carcosa Seri Negara Hotel in the capital.
On June 24, the “Datuk T” trio — former Malacca Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik , former Perkasa treasurer-general Datuk Shuib Lazim and Shazryl Eskay — admitted to screening the sex video and were fined a total of RM5,500 by Magistrate Aizatul Akmal Maharani.
“The full-colour CCTV recording clearly shows Anwar’s face. The time of the recording also corresponds with what Datuk Seri Anwar did with the Chinese prostitute,” pro-Umno blogger Papagomo wrote, in reference to the sex video released by the “Datuk T” trio on March 21.
“Prior to this, it was pointed out that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was absent from Twitter and Facebook during the time the sexual intercourse took place.”
Anwar had previously denied that he had “disappeared” from cyberspace during the time period in question and had reiterated that he was not the man in the video.
He lodged a police report on March 22, the day after the first video was screened to the media by the “Datuk T” trio.
