Mahathir under probe for 'fake news'

(May 3): Malaysian opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad is under investigation for a potential breach of a new fake news law, less than a week before an election that has him vying with Prime Minister Najib Razak for the crucial votes of ethnic Malays.

Mahathir, a former premier who was the country’s longest-serving leader, has not been charged. A probe is ongoing, Kuala Lumpur police chief Mazlan Lazim said on Thursday by phone, without elaborating. A spokesman in Mahathir’s office declined to comment.

The investigation follows a statement by Mahathir last Friday that a chartered plane due to take him to the northern island of Langkawi, where he is campaigning for a parliamentary seat, was tampered with so that it was unable to fly. The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia concluded there was no indication of sabotage and that the plane suffered an air leak from a wheel. He later travelled to Langkawi in time for the nomination deadline on Saturday.

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