KUALA LUMPUR- Malaysia's anti-graft chief Dzulkifli Ahmad has for the first time addressed rumours about his alleged extramarital affair, blaming the claims to "dirty and disgusting attacks".
But he did not directly confirm or deny the alleged affair with a woman who was married at that time.
Tan Sri Dzulkifli, chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), has led the agency from July last year, turning it into an aggressive body in hauling up senior civil servants, politicians and aides of Cabinet ministers in high-profile graft cases, along with those linked to opposition leaders.
Speaking on Tuesday to TV3, Malaysia's main news channel, he said: "I would like to stress that I and my colleagues in MACC will carry out our duty to the best of our ability and will not be affected by these dirty and disgusting attacks."
The allegations surfaced recently with a video of the alleged dalliance purportedly showing air tickets to Bali and several grainy pictures of Tan Sri Dzulkifli and the woman.
Said Mr Dzulkifli: "We are going to continue carrying out our duties as best as we can. Such allegations will not affect us."
Malaysia's police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun said police is investigating the case and is looking for the person who made the video that was posted on Youtube.
The woman at the centre of the allegations came out last week ina Facebook posting to say she is now divorced, Malaysian media reported, without naming her. But she denied the video's claims that her divorce was caused by the alleged affair, a sensitive issue among Muslims in conservative Malaysia.
Several government leaders have come out to defend Mr Dzulkifli's aggressive work with the MACC.
MACC advisory board chairman Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim told Berita Harian newspaper on Monday: "Every day, every week, there are corrupt individuals being brought to justice. A lot of corrupt politicians are getting jumpy, so, they want to bring (Dzulkifli) down by using the scandal to bring his morality into question."
Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi on Tuesday was quoted as saying that the video was meant toblackmail the agency.
"It was made with the intention of blackmailing MACC into not being firm in fighting corruption involving certain prominent political figures," he said, as quoted by New Straits Times newspaper.
