Police arrest Khairuddin

Former Umno Batu Kawan division deputy chief Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan was arrested by the police at his residence on Friday.

Khairuddin’s arrest was confirmed by his lawyer Matthias Chang when contacted by Astro AWANI, Friday evening.

"Khairuddin was detained under Section 124C on charges of trying to overthrow the government," said Chang.

According to his wife, Datin Seri Umie Aida, he was arrested at residence in Mont Kiara, here about 7.30pm Friday.

"15 policemen arrived at our house, five to six of them went up and the rest waited downstairs at the condominium,” she told Astro AWANI.

According to Umie, police seized some personal belongings, including a laptop, two mobile phones and sim cards.

Earlier, Khairuddin in a statement on Facebook, said police had asked him to appear at the Bukit Aman police headquarters on Monday to record his statement, following the evidence he had submitted to Swiss authorities in connection national strategic investment firm, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The Malaysian Insider earlier reported that government officials had prior to this, accused Khairuddin for forging 'false' and 'politically motivated' reports, with regard to the 1MDB issue.

On August 20, Khairuddin presented evidence related to 1MDB to the Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General (OAG) in Bern and had urged authorities to investigate 1MDB's activities, as several international banks along with a Swiss bank was involved.

In a statement on Facebook earlier, Khairuddin claimed that he and his lawyer, Mathias Chang were prohibited from leaving Malaysia.

Khairuddin also stated that he had to forgo the costs for his trip to New York and London, following the alleged barring.

"I was supposed to leave for New York and then London at 10.30am today (Friday) but have been prohibited and blacklisted by the Immigration Department under police orders," he said.