Putrajaya Denies Giving Zakir Naik Land And Slot On RTM To Restart His Banned TV Channel
"We would like to clarify that these allegations are baseless."
By Sadho Ram — 08 May 2019, 03:28 PM
On Tuesday, 7 May, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) issued a statement, denying a report from India claiming that the Malaysian government has rewarded Zakir Naik with a plot of land
The PMO also denied that the controversial preacher has been given a "slot on Malaysia's national broadcaster" to help restart his banned Peace TV channel.
In the statement, the PMO said that the allegations made in a report by an India-based television channel, circulated through various social media outlets, were baseless.
"It has been brought to our attention that an Indian-based television channel circulated a report through various social media outlets claiming that the Malaysian government had rewarded Zakir with land and a 'slot on Malaysia’s national broadcaster'.
"We would like to clarify that these allegations are baseless," the PMO said.
While the PMO did not identify the Indian TV channel, FMT reported that "India's Republic TV had claimed that Malaysia decided to 'reward' Naik to operate his Peace TV operations"
However, a check by SAYS on India's Republic TV found no such report.
Naik's Peace TV, founded in 2006, has been banned in India as well as in Bangladesh, following the deadly 2016 Islamist terrorist attack in Dhaka.
Prior to this, the preacher was formally charged with money laundering by India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week
Indian prosecutors allege that Naik has acquired RM116 million worth of criminal assets. They have also accused him of spreading hate speech and inciting terrorism.