Former chief justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad has apologised to Dr Mahathir Mohamad for claiming that the latter had gone to the Istana Negara uninvited on May 9 in an attempt to be sworn in as prime minister.

This follows a denial by the Prime Minister’s Office's on the matter.

"I acknowledge that I have made a mistake of facts, and comments arising from the mistake of facts, in writing that article.

"I acknowledge that it was due to my own negligence and I offer no excuses for mistake. I am fully responsible for it.

"I humbly and regretfully apologise to Mahathir for the mistake, and any negative perception of him caused by the mistake and comments.

"I also extend my humble apologies to His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong if there is any mistake of facts involving him in the article although, to date, no one has pointed it out," he said in a blog posting today.

Hamid said he had made corrections to his original article, and urged those who shared the original to either delete it or replace it with the updated version.

The former chief justice had written an article on the purported mistakes made by Sultan Muhammad V during the latter’s reign as the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.

Among others, he claimed that Mahathir had gone to the palace on the night of May 9 as soon as results showed that Pakatan Harapan had won a simple majority in Parliament.

He added that Mahathir was in a hurry to be sworn in, out of fear that he could lose his coalition's majority due to defections among newly-elected MPs.

The PMO clarified that Mahathir had only gone to the palace on the afternoon on May 10 for the swearing-in ceremony.