Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz today remained adamant calling malaysiakini "a liar" for deliberately publishing a false report.

"As far as I understand it, (on) April Fool's Day, people tell lies. Therefore malaysiakini is definitely a liar," he said when met at the Parliament lobby.

He said that, in the past, the government had not acted against the online news provider although it did not agree with reports.

"Even though sometimes you made statements that were wrong, we did not take action because we thought you might have made mistakes in your facts. But this (joke) was not, it was deliberately wrong," he said, without specifying the malaysiakini reports allegedly containing factual mistakes.

"You already know this is not true and yet you put it up and say this was an April Fool's joke. What is this? (As) a media (organisation), you have to be serious."

While conceding he has not read the report in full, he maintained that he did not have to do so to realise it was false.

"I know it was not true because the prime minister has not signed or agreed to take action against three ministers and a chief minister," he added.

Yesterday, Nazri said the government would act over the April 1 report that three ministers and a menteri besar would be charged with corruption.

In a linked report posted almost immediately, malaysiakini had revealed the hoax. The website has defended its action, arguing that it was aimed at stirring public debate on the issue of corruption.

Nazri 'over-reacting'

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said Nazri was "over-reacting" and urged the government to retract its excessive reaction.

He said it was "more than unbelievable" that the government would carry out a "clean up" of its administration.

"When I first read the report I was in Manila. I thought this was not something bad that the country has to be ashamed of. In fact this was something that the country should be proud of," he said, adding that his excitement came to an end when he realised that it was a prank.

He said it was understandable that the prank had rattled the top leadership in Umno where some may have felt that they could be the targets.

The report also roiled Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, who was initially reported as saying he would ask the police to investigate. However, he later claimed to have been misquoted.