AZMIN ‘EAGER’ TO GIVE COPS HIS SIDE OF THE STORY – OR JUST SAY ONLY? SENIOR MINISTER INSISTS GAY SEX VIDEOS ARE FAKE, REFUTING FOREIGN REPORTS – YET WHY THE DELAY IN GIVING POLICE HIS STATEMENT – DOES HE HAVE AN ALIBI, CAN HE DENY HE’S CLOSE TO ALLEGED SEX PARTNER HAZIQ, HOW WILL HE FRAME HIS DEFENCE?

PETALING JAYA – The office of Datuk Seri Azmin Ali insists the viral sex videos are fake, refuting foreign media reports that the footage does not appear to be manipulated.

“We are not convinced by these news reports and we have lodged a police report based on our belief that these videos are fake,” said Azmin’s political secretary Hilman Idham.

On June 14, Hilman lodged a police report at the Putrajaya district police headquarters, claiming that Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz had made a false report, which he said was criminal accusation.

Haziq was arrested by the police at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on June 14, as he was about to take a flight to Manila but was released the next day on police bail.

In the past week, clips of a sex video went viral, followed by a confession by Haziq that he was one of the two men in the video.

Haziq further claimed that the other person in the video was Azmin, who is Economic Affairs Minister and PKR deputy president.

Hilman was commenting on a report by Australian media SBS News on Monday (June 17) which said that experts have studied the videos and concluded that they are likely to be the originals.

It quoted Kevin Nguyen, a digital forensics expert who analysed the videos for SBS News.

“At an image level, forensically it checks out. I ran a number of forensic analysis … across the three videos and at the six points I checked there was no evidence of photo or image manipulation.”

However, Nguyen said he could not rule out the video being a “deepfake”, a term for artificial intelligence-based technology, which involves machine learning techniques to superimpose a face on a video.

“If it’s a deepfake, it’s a very good one,” he said.

SBS News quoted another expert, Giorgio Patrini, CEO of Australian company Deeptrace, a specialised company which provides analysis of deepfake videos.

The report quoted her as saying that the video resolution and quality was too low to run a conclusive analysis.

“None of the analysts could confirm that Azmin is the man in the video, they only concluded the video appears to not have been digitally altered,” read the SBS report.

The report also quoted Denby Weller, from the University of Technology Sydney, as saying that some aspects of the video raised “red flags”.

“It’s been shot in portrait mode on a phone by the looks of it, although that look can be artificially created in post-production. It has also been shot from a slightly elevated position (the height of the camera is very hard to fake), which would indicate that the phone was pointing slightly downwards at the men,” she said. –  ANN

AZMIN EAGER TO GO ON RECORD WITH POLICE

SEPANG – Datuk Seri Azmin Ali wants to give his statement to police on the sex video controversy as soon as possible, according to his political secretary.

Hilman Idham said the Economic Affairs Minister had directed his officers to give priority to the police’s request to see him, adding that the minister wanted the statement to be recorded by today.

He said the minister’s office had been officially informed by police on Sunday that they wanted to record a statement from Azmin.

“We are in discussion because Datuk Seri Azmin has ordered that this be given priority,” he told reporters outside the Sepang police headquarters yesterday.

Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz, who is the suspended senior private secretary to the Deputy Primary Industries Minister, had admitted that he was one of the two men in the sex video.

To a question, Hilman said there was no need to speculate on Haziq’s release from police custody.

“If Haziq has given his statement and police feel there was no need to remand him, it is their (police) decision. There is nothing to speculate on,” he said.

On Friday, Haziq was arrested at the international departure hall of the KL International Airport before his flight to Manila.

Bukit Aman CID director Comm Datuk Huzir Mohamed said Haziq was investigated under Section 292 (sale of obscene material), 504 (intent to provoke breach of peace) and 377B (carnal intercourse against nature) of the Penal Code as well as Section 233 Multimedia and Communication Act 1998.

Haziq was released from the Dang Wangi police station the following day.

Meanwhile, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Mazlan Mansor said police had so far recorded statements from 21 people in connection with the viral sex video, adding that 17 police reports were lodged.

“Many parties want us to conduct a thorough investigation. Trust (us), we will do this,” he told reporters after witnessing the handing over ceremony for the Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CID) director’s post yesterday.

Comm Datuk Zakaria Ahmad took over from Deputy Comm Datuk Saiful Azly Kamaruddin, who had held the post in an acting capacity. Mazlan said police faced certain challenges in the investigation, especially as it involved a digital video.

“A task force consisting of the CID, Forensic Unit and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission personnel is actively investigating and attempting to ascertain the authenticity of the video.

“We have to wait for the results of their probe,” he said.

Asked whether Bukit Aman would seek foreign assistance to determine the veracity of the video, Mazlan said so far they had not done so. He added that the public must give the police time to get to the bottom of the matter.

“We will not disclose every detail of the case as it might hamper investigation,” he said.

It was reported that police are expected to question Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president, over the sex video which went viral last week.

Haziq named Azmin in the sex video romp.

Azmin subsequently denied the allegations, calling it slander and a “nefarious plot” to end his political career.

On Friday, Haziq was arrested at KLIA2 en route to Manila. He was questioned and released on police bail on Saturday, with no restrictions to travel. Asked why Haziq’s passport was not seized by the police, Mazlan said there was no need to do so as Haziq had cooperated with the investigation.

“He is out on police bail and action will be taken if he violates the conditions of the bail,” he said.

THE STAR