PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein will be lodging a police report on Thursday (June 24) about a viral letter claiming he has Barisan Nasional's support to be the new prime minister, says his communications team.
"As stated by my Communications Unit yesterday, this letter is fake and untrue. A police report will be made today," said Hishammuddin.
He added in the post on his Facebook account that the report is being lodged "so that the matter can be investigated immediately to determine who is behind such an irresponsible act".
Prior to this, the Sembrong MP's team tweeted that the purported letter which was addressed to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, was “false and untrue”.
“This is a malicious political provocation by spreading lies to confuse the public,” the communications team tweeted on Wednesday (June 23) night.
In the letter dated June 22, the Foreign Minister allegedly claimed that the Barisan supreme council had unanimously backed him to lead the next government as its prime minister.
The letter was also seen with a stamp to allegedly indicate as received by palace officials on Wednesday.
It also included a list of Hishammuddin's proposed cabinet line-up, with International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob proposed as first and second deputy prime ministers.
Previously, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had said that 25 out of 41 MPs from Barisan have signed statutory declarations (SDs) in support of Hishammuddin because they have lost confidence in Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
According to Nazri, he revealed that he was the “mastermind’ behind it, adding that the SDs were signed in support of Hishammuddin because Barisan wanted a new representative in the event the party was summoned for an audience with the King.
Nazri added that the SDs have been forwarded to Hishammuddin, but he was unsure whether Hishammuddin had shown the list to the King.