KUALA LUMPUR: Speaking to the media for the first time, ex-PKR political aide Hilmi Malik has denied leaking semi-nude photos of Selangor PKR executive councillor Elizabeth Wong three years ago.
He however admitted to local tabloid Kosmo in an interview published today that he had a love affair with the Bukit Lanjan assemblywoman but said the media reports that suggested he was the culprit as false.
The 36-year-old also said he did not “run away” to Indonesia because he feared legal action as alleged, but said it was to defuse the tension and mitigate the complication.
“I don’t know who leaked (the pictures). All I know is that the mobile phone was long gone by then,” he told Kosmo in Batam, Indonesia.
“I didn’t run out of fear… I did not want to muddy up the situation. I also did not want to be turned into a political circus”.
Hilmi claimed the pictures surfaced after he lost his mobile phone although he did not state if the photos were taken by him.
Wong had claimed then the photos were taken without consent and that she has been victimised. She did not indicate if the photos were taken by Hilmi.
Hilmi is still wanted by the Malaysian police for questioning in connection to the leaked photos.
He said he will now try and seek asylum in Europe “to start a new life” and hoped the Malaysian police will not charge him.
Caught in Indonesia
He disappeared immediately after the issue made its way to the media in early 2009.
The issue resurfaced following his arrest by the Batam immigration on Feb 3 this year for carrying fake identification documents.
He is said to have entered Indonesia on his Malaysian passport via the Tanjung Balai international port in Karimun on Feb 15, 2009, before travelling around the archipelago and eventually settling in Jakarta.
DetikNews.com quoted him as telling the Indonesian authorities upon his arrest that he was advised by PKR leaders to stay in the country as his “security was no longer guaranteed in Malaysia”.
“I chose to stay here (Indonesia) even though my visa had expired because the party (PKR) and my family told me to… there is a threat on me by the Malaysian government which may want to make me a political tool of those in power,” he was quoted as saying.
He also said his long stay there had been financed by the party and his family.
The Malaysian police said they will not extradite him and he is likely to face charges for immigration offences by the Indonesian authorities.
MoCS 