KUALA LUMPUR (May 6): Police have recorded the statement of a journalist from an English-language portal to assist investigations regarding the publication of an article alleging talks of a casino licence to revive the Forest City property project in Johor.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said the statement was recorded by the Bukit Aman Classified Crime Investigation Unit (USJT) after the media officer who was summoned to appear turned up there at 8.30am Monday.

“We will also call a few more individuals to help with the investigation,” he said when asked for comments at the Defence Services Asia (DSA) exhibition and the National Security Exhibition (Natsec) Asia 2024 here on Monday.

The investigation is being conducted in accordance with Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act, Section 500 of the Penal Code (for defamation) and Section 233 of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Last Friday, Razarudin confirmed that an investigation had been carried out after lawyers of businessman Tan Sri Vincent Tan lodged a report regarding the publication of an article by an international news portal related to the establishment of a casino in Forest City, which allegedly contained false, untrue, unsubstantiated and unverified statements.

The portal, which cited sources among others, also linked the names of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Berjaya Corporation Bhd (Berjaya Corp) and Genting Malaysia Bhd, but all parties involved have denied the report published by the portal.