Sex clip implicating minister - US expert to establish identities by year end

Police have sent a sex video implicating Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali to a university in the US for analysis.

Federal CID director Huzir Mohamed said a digital forensics expert from the institution would determine if the video is authentic and establish the identities of those involved.

"For your information, recently, a team of cops went to the US. They have handed over the video to the experts. The analysis report will be furnished to the police in the near future," he added.

Asked when the police expect to obtain the findings, he replied: “Very sure before the end of the year."

Huzir said that prior to this, the investigation paper had been passed back and forth between the police and Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) up to eight times.

The latest instruction, he added, was for the police to obtain an analysis from a neutral expert.

In July, inspector-general of police Abdul Hamid Bador said Cybersecurity Malaysia found that while the video was authentic, the facial recognition process failed to identify those involved.

Yesterday, lawyer Hanif Khatri Abdulla (below), who has acted for Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, demanded an update on investigations concerning the video.

Huzir said the reason the IP was returned to police several times was that the police had received "several instructions and actions to be taken each time."

Asked whether the analysis by Cyber Security Malaysia furnished in July was unreliable, Huzir said that is not the case.

"We needed analysis from experts who are neutral. Cyber Security is a body under the government. After discussing (with AGC), it was decided that we needed to obtain a report from neutral experts," he said.

Reason behind the delay

He said the difficulty seeking experts with the experience of testifying in court and willing to come and testify in Malaysia are the reasons why the investigation process is taking such a long time.

"We need to identify reliable experts who could testify in court.

"If we send to those not recognised and have never testified in court, it's likely the expert's testimony will not be accepted in court.

"And of course, bringing experts here involves cost. Some experts are willing to analyse certain videos but are not ready to testify. These are our concerns when we want to engage them."

In September, Umno supreme council member Lokman Noor Adam (below) had sent a report from British audiovisual forensic experts on the video to the police, and Huzir said the cops have informed the Attorney-General about this.

"It’s up to the attorney-general whether to accept that report or not," he said.

In July, Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador said while Cybersecurity Malaysia found the video to be authentic, the facial recognition process had failed to link Azmin to the video, which depicts two men engaging in sexual activity.

Mobile phone checks

Meanwhile, commenting on the police's right to inspect one's mobile phones, Huzir said Deputy Home Minister Mohd Azis Jamman was right when he clarified that police couldn't do so without a specific reason.

"The police could only check one's phone upon reasonable suspicion or when investigating a certain case. For instance, in a kidnapping case, if we believe the phone was used as a medium, we would check it.

"According to our Standard Operation Procedure, if any police seize or conduct checks on one's phone, they will file a report to ensure that the check was conducted under an official duty, and not under the individual's capacity."

He said that if any members of the public were not happy to have their mobile phones checked, they could file a police report to the Integrity and Standard Compliance Department (JIPS).

"But so far, police have not received any complaint on the issue," he said. - Mkini