PETALING JAYA: A Singapore news outlet has called out an Umno leader for allegedly spreading fake news about PKR president-elect Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
BERITAmediacorp, a Bahasa Malaysia news portal under Singaporean conglomerate Mediacorp, said Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam had alleged that the news outlet had reported on a sodomy incident involving the "husband to the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister".
The post claimed an Indonesian student had lodged a police report in Singapore over the incident, and that the person in question is Anwar.
"BERITAmediacorp was informed of the information which was spread in social media, and Lokman had alleged that the source of the news was from BERITAmediacorp.
"This is not true and the news spread by Lokman in his post is fake news," the news outlet reported.
BERITAmediacorp added that the post alleged that the student is currently in a hospital in Singapore and police were investigating the matter.
"The Singapore Police Force confirmed that it did not receive any reports on such matter," it added.
The news outlet added that it had not received any emails or explanation from Lokman on the allegation.
A check by The Star found that Lokman had posted on his Facebook account a correction that BERITAmediacorp did not publish the news.
The Malaysian Insight reported that Lokman has taken down a defamatory post after being alerted that it is fake news.
“I have checked and removed it. I have announced that the statement is untrue,” he told the news portal.
Meanwhile, PKR Communications Director Fahmi Fadzil had denied that allegations as well.
"Like I've stressed before, there will be a lot of false information being spread during by-elections, and we see a character like Lokman, who initially posted something on his Facebook account, only to delete it later," he told Utusan.
Anwar, who is the PKR president-elect, is currently contesting in the Port Dickson by-election which will be held on Oct 13.
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