PKR sacks Haziq from party

PETALING JAYA: Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz has been booted out of PKR, three weeks after publicly confessing that he and the party’s deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali were the two men in a viral sex video.

PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the Santubong PKR Youth chief was expelled because he had accused the party leadership of corruption without providing evidence.

Anwar said the decision was made by the leadership after considering several recommendations by the disciplinary board, which he insisted was impartial and took no sides.

“It is a unanimous decision.

“The disciplinary board is impartial and does not side with anyone. That’s why it (Haziq’s dismissal) is decided on the basis of him accusing the party leadership of corruption,” Anwar told reporters after the party’s weekly political bureau meeting last night.

PKR disciplinary board chief Datuk Ahmad Kassim said the board recommended the political bureau to expel him after reviewing Haziq’s response to a show-cause letter sent to him following the emergence of the video and his confession.

“After looking at his response in a letter dated July 2, the disciplinary board recommended to the political bureau to expel him.

“The disciplinary board found that he had gone against the code of ethics.

“Among the reasons given is that he has openly accused the party leadership of corruption without giving evidence,” Ahmad said.

Another reason was that he also openly accused the party leadership of “other matters” without waiting for investigations to be wrapped up, said Ahmad.

On June 12, after the first clip of the video was sent to PKR leaders and the media, Haziq claimed that the other man in the video with him was Azmin, who is also the Economic Affairs Minister.

Haziq also called on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate Azmin for corruption but the anti-graft body has since cleared Azmin of the supposedly shady bank transactions in question.

Azmin has categorically denied any involvement in the sex video, dismissing the scandal as a “nefarious plot” to destroy his political career.

On June 14, Haziq, who was waiting for a flight to Manila, was arrested by the police at KLIA2 and released on bail a day later with permission to leave the country if he wished.

On June 19, Haziq was slapped with a show-cause letter by the party disciplinary board and given 14 days to respond.

The authenticity of the video has yet to be confirmed by the police, who has formed a task force, which includes Malaysian Communica­tions and Multimedia Commission personnel, to probe the case.

On June 20, Haziq, 27, was sacked as the senior private secretary to Deputy Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskan­dar Md Akin, who is PKR information chief.