'Umno laying groundwork for Sex Video 2.0'

Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia's front-page report yesterday quoting one of the 'Datuk T' trio about a new sex video allegedly involving Anwar Ibrahim is yet another attempt to further tarnish the opposition leader's reputation.

"The statement by (former Perkasa treasurer) Shuib Lazim in Utusan Malaysiais a clear attempt to lay the groundwork for the release of new fabricated sex videos aimed at tarnishing Anwar's reputation," PKR vice-president N Surendran (left) said.

"We expect that more such porn tapes will be fabricated and distributed as the 13th general election nears," Surendran said in a statement late yesterday, adding that these were the "dirty and uncivilised" tactics of Umno and BN.

The 'Datuk T' trio of Shuib, businessperson Shazryl Eskay Abdullah and former Malacca chief minister Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik screened a sex video of a man resembling Anwar with a woman appearing to be of East Asian descent to journalists at the luxury Carcosa Seri Negara hotel in Kuala Lumpur in February last year.

Umno's fingerprints on sex video

Responding to the Shuib's threat that Anwar either disproves the first sex video through forensic tests or else new sex videos on him would be released, Surendran dismissed it as a "shameless and desperate" tactic of Umno.

"The sex video is widely disbelieved throughout the country, and there is no need for Anwar Ibrahim to resort to forensic tests to persuade the public that the video is a fabrication.

"Having themselves been responsible for creating and spreading the fabricated sex video against Anwar, it is simply outrageous that 'Datuk T' are now issuing challenges to Anwar," Surendran said.

And with Rahim (left), a former Umno Youth chief, being involved in releasing the previous sex video is proof of Umno's fingerprints being all over the first sex video episode, he added.

Anwar has lodged a police report denying that the man in the first sex video was him, while the Datuk T trio were fined for screening pornography in public.

However, police are now using this police report by Anwar toinvestigate him under Section 182 of the Penal Code for giving "false information to injure another person".