THEY had warned Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman they would smear his family if he went public with their offer of RM5 million to leave Bersatu.
And early on Wednesday, they showed him they meant business when they sent him photographs that could be damaging to his family.
The photographs were sent through the Telegram chat mobile application, with the warning not to reveal the identities of those who had approached him with a bribe to ditch Bersatu and later attack Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“The police report lodged by Syed Saddiq was not about him, it was to protect his family,” a source told The Malaysian Insight.
The Bersatu youth chief was warned that his family’s name would be tarnished if he did not accept the bribe and continue with his studies at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
The source said when Syed Saddiq held a press conference on Monday to reveal the offer and threat to his family, he did not know about the “sensitive photographs”.
“And when he announced that he will be going to the police, he received the threatening note warning him not to reveal who had approached him, and as proof that they meant business, they sent the photographs,” the source revealed.
Police are now working with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission as the report also has an element of bribery.
Selangor Criminal Investigation Division chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Fadzil Ahmat said MACC was now the lead agency in the investigation, adding that Syed Saddiq had been informed of this development.
“We are still discussing the case with MACC and will decide later if there will be separate investigations,” Fadzil said.
Syed Saddiq told The Malaysian Insight last night that police had questioned him extensively on his report.
“I have finished meeting with the police and their Special Branch, and they have given me immense help,” he said without elaborating as the matter was still under investigation.
“I haven’t gone to the MACC yet. The matter is linked to one another. It will be done in due time.”
In a series of tweets earlier yesterday, Syed Saddiq vowed that if his family was “attacked”, he would hit back “like never before”.
“If they attack my family, I swear to Allah, I will retaliate like never before,” he said.
When announcing the attempt to buy him over, Syed Saddiq had said he was approached by a group of politicians and businessmen who allegedly were working on the instructions of a senior aide to Prime Minister Najib Razak. He had also named the aide.
Yesterday, however, the prime minister’s press secretary, Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad, was quoted as saying that the person named by Syed Saddiq, did not work in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Syed Saddiq shot back, saying: “I said he was the right hand man of the prime minister. I never said he was a staff of the Prime Minister’s Department.” – October 6, 2017.