Mahathir under probe for ‘fake news’

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad is under investigation for allegedly spreading “fake news” after claiming his plane was sabotaged, police said yesterday, just days before a closely-fought election, reports AFP. Veteran ex-premier Mahathir, 92, is seeking to oust his former protege, Prime Minister Najib Razak, in the general election next Wednesday at the head of an opposition alliance.

As campaigning got underway at the weekend, Mahathir claimed that there had been an attempt to sabotage a plane he had chartered to prevent him heading to the island of Langkawi to formally register his candidacy for the election.

He still made it to the island by taking another plane. Malaysia’s civil aviation authority and the charter company said there was a technical issue with the plane but rejected the allegations of sabotage. “We have opened an investigation (into Mahathir) under the anti-fake news law,” the capital’s police chief Mazlan Lazim told AFP.

Mahathir under probe for fake news

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad is under investigation for allegedly spreading fake news after claiming his plane was sabotaged, police said yesterday, just days before a closely-fought election, reports AFP. Veteran ex-premier Mahathir, 92, is seeking to oust his former protege, Prime Minister Najib Razak, in the general election next Wednesday at the head of an opposition alliance. As campaigning got underway at the weekend, Mahathir claimed that there had been an attempt to sabotage a plane he had chartered to prevent him heading to the island of Langkawi to formally register his candidacy for the election. He still made it to the island by taking another plane. Malaysias civil aviation authority and the charter company said there was a technical issue with the plane but rejected the allegations of sabotage. We have opened an investigation (into Mahathir) under the anti-fake news law, the capitals police chief Mazlan Lazim told AFP.