updated version The police have filed a report against malaysiakini over an article which alleged that the police were possibly involved in the 'spray attack' on former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and ex-Kelantan Umno strongman Ibrahim Ali.

According to a Bernama report today, acting Kelantan CID chief Shafie Ismail had filed the report with the Kota Bharu police headquarters on July 31.

Shafie described the malaysiakini report which alleged police involvement in the incident as defamatory.

In the incident last week, Mahathir and Ibrahim were hit by a chemical spray shortly after the former prime minister had arrived at the Sultan Ismail Petra airport in Kelantan.

Mahathir was then hastily escorted out of the airport in a car by a team of men dressed in black.

The police later clarified that the incident was related to rivalry between two groups of Mahathir supporters, and those men in black were army personnel, not members of the police force.

'Datuk' files report

A businessman bearing the honorific title 'Datuk' was later arrested in connection with the case. He was released yesterday after the remand order against him expired.

Kelantan police chief Zulkifli Abdullah said the court had rejected the application for the police to withhold his passport.

However, he said investigations concerning the 53-year-old businessman were still ongoing and the police are awaiting instructions from the Attorney-General's Chambers.

Meanwhile, the businessman also filed a police report against Ibrahim, who accused the former of 'creating a commotion' at the airport during last week's incident.

The businessman said the allegation was aimed at tarnishing his image.

Editor's note: Malaysiakini's newsflash on the incident which initially mentioned the possibility of the police being involved was due to the confusion at the scene where conflicting versions had surfaced on what had happened.

The newsflash was based on our journalist who was at the Kota Bahru airport where he initially filed the report that it was Ibrahim Ali who was attacked, not Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Immediately after the attack, our journalist on the ground saw Mahathir being escorted into a car by, among others, men dressed in black (who are now confirmed to be army personnel, not the police).

Malaysiakini had also immediately tried to contact Deputy Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan several times for comments but the calls went unanswered.

However, the report was rectified an hour later when the situation became clearer and the mention of possible police involvement was promptly removed. Malaysiakini regrets the error.