Inspector-general of police Abdul Hamid Bador (photo, above) has expressed frustration at the saga unfolding over a sex video implicating Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali, stating that it is consuming a huge amount of police resources.
The sex video has accentuated the rift between Azmin and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, who had said the former should resign if it is proven to be authentic.
Both factions in PKR have either called on police to determine the perpetrators of the secretly recorded video or its authenticity, which Abdul Hamid said police have done, but is now getting flak.
"This whole thing is political. I have been urged from day one to verify the authenticity of the video.
"Now, after doing so, I am being accused of making political statements," he was quoted as saying by The Malaysian Insight.
On Thursday, Abdul Hamid said Cybersecurity Malaysia's analysis had found the sex video to be authentic, meaning that it had not been altered.
However, he said facial recognition failed to get a positive identification on the implicated minister.
On the perpetrators’ front, Abdul Hamid said two additional arrests were made in Shah Alam yesterday, bringing the total arrests to 11. Five have since been released.
Abdul Hamid said the public fight was getting many quarters involved.
"Don't bring your fights to the public and get everyone else involved and make the police waste their time and resources to investigate such petty matters," he was quoted as saying.
Last month, a sex video featuring two men, released in multiple parts, was circulated by anonymous persons to politicians and journalists.
Subsequently, former PKR Santubong chief Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz claimed he was the man in the video and alleged his partner was PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali.
Azmin dismissed the video as slander and an attempt to destroy his political career. He also alluded that it was an inside job.
Among those arrested were Haziq and Perak PKR chief Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, who is also Anwar's political secretary.