Nawawi lodges police report, denies saying Agong is MO1

Not naming any one who 'slandered him', Langkawi MP just says he may take legal action against them.

PETALING JAYA: Langkawi Umno division chief Nawawi Ahmad today lodged a police report on the controversy surrounding his Facebook post purportedly linking the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to “Malaysian Official 1” (MO1).

Reiterating that his post had been twisted by certain quarters to make it seem as if he was accusing the Agong of being MO1 – an individual referred as such in the 1MDB-linked civil suits by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) – the Langkawi MP denied ever making such a claim in his police report lodged at the Ulu Kelang police station this afternoon.

“The question asked to me was in the context of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on 1MDB, which was published earlier this year. The DoJ report on the other hand was released last month.”

The Umno lawmaker added that as the PAC is a Malaysian panel, he assumed if there was any mention of a MO1 in its report, it must be an individual whom according to the Federal Constitution is the most powerful in the country.

“So by referring to Matter 32 of the Constitution, I made an interpretation that is based on my understanding as a layman, who is not a lawyer, and concluded that the Agong is Malaysia’s Official Number One.”

Nawawi said the report he lodged today did not specifically name any individual whom he claimed had “slandered” him.

However, he said he was contemplating taking legal action against them.

“I will talk to my lawyer and see what we can do.”

Nawawi had recently courted controversy by saying that according to the Federal Constitution, the “Agong is the MO1”. He later deleted that line, but it was still visible by clicking the “Edited” button on the particular Facebook post.

Many notable figures, including former Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin and former Kedah menteri besar Mukhriz Mahathir, have demanded that Nawawi apologise for issuing the “treasonous” statement.

A total of eight police reports have been lodged against him to date, including one filed by former Langkawi Umno member Anina Saadudin.

The DoJ had filed civil suits on July 20 saying that over US$3.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB.

In its suits, filed in Los Angeles, DoJ said it sought to seize US$1 billon in assets that were “involved in and traceable to an international conspiracy to launder money misappropriated from 1MDB”.

It specifically named Riza Aziz, who is Prime Minister Najib Razak’s stepson, Low Taek Jho (better known as Jho Low), and Abu Dhabi government officials Khadem al-Qubaisi and Mohamed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny, as well as an individual named only as MO1, who is said to be a relative of Riza.