PETALING JAYA: The police have been ordered to probe if Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has links with international terrorist groups, said Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.
The minister said he ordered the police to launch the probe based on media reports which allegedly implicated Anwar in terrorism.
However, Hishammuddin added that he had yet to read the reports, and denied that the matter had anything to do with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.
“It has nothing to do with Najib,” he said, adding that it was more of a security than political issue.
“I have asked the anti-terrorist taskforce and the Special Branch (to look into the matter), and they will work with the Saudi intelligence to see to what extent is Anwar involved.
“This is a security issue; like it or not, we have to take it seriously,” he said.
Asked if Anwar would be called in for questioning, the home minister said that would depend on the police.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin declined to comment on the matter when quizzed during his campaign trail in Tenang.
A CNN report yesterday claimed that it had sighted a report of a secret Saudi Arabian probe into complaints by Najib that Saudi personalities were funding Anwar.
Najib had purportedly claimed that the Malaysian government suspected two senior Saudi princes of being involved.
CNN, however, said that the probe found no such evidence.
The report also said that it was discovered that millions of dollars from the Saudis were chanelled to Islamist politicians and foreign-based political activists.
Furthermore, it added that terror network al-Qaeda and the Taliban were still able to use Saudi Arabia for fund raising despite measures taken to curb this.
Among others, the report claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood political movement had been instrumental in such fundings and had “occasionally” provided funds to al-Qaeda.
The CNN report was later carried by the local media here, with some giving the story their own spin by linking Anwar to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Anwar’s party PKR had officially sought clarification from one online news portal following a report which linked him to the movement.
Anwar, who expressed no suprise over the latest controversy, claimed that the issue reflected Najib’s fear of facing him in the next general election.
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