PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Mr Haziq Aziz has been expelled from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), three weeks after publicly claiming that he and PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali were the two men appearing in a viral sex video.
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said the decision was made after considering several recommendations by the party's disciplinary board.
PKR disciplinary board chief Ahmad Kassim said the board recommended to the political bureau to expel the Santubong PKR Youth chief after reviewing Mr Haziq's response to a show cause letter sent to him last month.
"The disciplinary board has received a response from the show cause letter sent to Mr Haziq.
"After looking at his response letter, dated July 2, we recommended that the political bureau to expel him.
"The disciplinary board found that he went against the party's code of ethics. Among the reasons given is that he openly accused the party leadership of corruption without giving evidence," Datuk Ahmad told reporters after the party's weekly political bureau meeting on Wednesday (July 3) night.
Another reason given for Mr Haziq's expulsion was that he openly accused the party leadership of other matters without waiting for investigations to be completed, said Mr Ahmad.
Datuk Seri Anwar said the disciplinary board was impartial and took no sides.
"It is impartial and does not side with anyone. That's why it (Haziq's expulsion) was decided on the basis of him accusing the party leadership of corruption," said Mr Anwar.
On June 12, after the first video was sent to the media and PKR leaders, Mr Haziq claimed that the other man in the video with him was Datuk Seri Azmin.
He also urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate Mr Azmin, who is Malaysia's Economic Affairs Minister, for corruption.
Mr Azmin has denied any involvement in the sex video, dismissing the scandal as a "nefarious plot" to destroy his political career.
On June 14, Mr Haziq, who was waiting for a flight to Manila was arrested by the police at the airport then released on bail a day later with permission to leave the country if he wished.
On June 19, he was slapped with a show cause letter by the party disciplinary board and given 14 days to respond. A day later the Ministry of Primary Industries announced he was sacked from his post as the senior private secretary to the Deputy Primary Industries Minister.
The authenticity of the video has yet to be confirmed by the authorities, which had formed a task force comprising the police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to probe the case.
On June 28 the MACC cleared Mr Azmin of any wrongdoing following an investigation into allegations of illegal fund transfers.
