IPOH: An audio recording purportedly of an exco member criticising Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu has gone viral.
In the four-minute plus audio clip, the unidentified individual is heard complaining of Ahmad Faizal’s performance in administering the state.
The person, who was speaking to a few people believed to be Umno assemblymen, claimed that Ahmad Faizal was always late for meetings.
He claimed that if a meeting was set for 10am, the Mentri Besar would only arrive sometimes as late as 11am.
He claimed that the Mentri Besar had a tendency to skip programmes with the Sultan of Perak.
The individual alleged that other exco members had told him that they wanted Ahmad Faizal to be replaced.
He claimed that he could be a candidate as he had no problems with the Perak royalty.
When contacted Thursday (April 18), state executive councillor Dr Abdul Aziz Bari said he had not heard the audio clip, which sounded like his voice.
Abdul Aziz said that in this era of technology, all sorts of things could be done.
“We don’t even know if the source of the audio recording is authentic. It can be doctored.
“I feel that the issue of losses over the Movie Animation Park Studios is a much bigger issue than the audio recording,” he added.
During the last state assembly meeting, Abdul Aziz denied that he was out to oust the Perak MB.
However, Perak Barisan Nasional chief Datuk Saarani Mohamad confirmed in the last meeting in December that five Umno assemblymen had met Abdul Aziz over the alleged plot.
When asked about the audio clip, Saarani said he said he had listened to the clip that had gone viral.
“I will stick to what I said before that I have five statutory declarations (SDs) from Umno assemblymen that they had indeed met with the exco member concerned, who wanted support to be the next Mentri Besar.
"The five had also been summoned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the police, and the SDs were handed over to the authorities.
"The contents in the audio clip are the same as listed in the SDs. But who recorded this, I am not sure," he said, denying that Umno had a hand in spreading the audio clip.
Rungkup assemblyman Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya, one of the five assemblymen who was purportedly approached by the exco member, said he had only listened to the audio recording briefly.
When asked if he was one of the people that the individual was talking to, Shahrul said the source of the clip was not verified, and it was not right for him to comment.
"There is nothing to hide (the fact that) that I am one of the five in the SDs, and what is recorded in the audio is nothing new. And this is what we have heard before," he added.
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