A PERSON named by Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who allegedly tried to bribe the Bersatu Youth (Armada) chief to leave the party, does not work in the Prime Minister’s Office, Sinar Harian reports.

The prime minister’s press secretary Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad told the Malay daily that a senior aide or adviser to Najib Razak, identified as “H”, does not exist, contrary to Syed Saddiq’s claim.

“The Prime Minister’s Office has no such officer with that name serving the prime minister,” Tengku Sarifuddin told Sinar Harian.

Syed Saddiq had named the senior aide as the “mastermind” behind a network of politicians and businessmen trying to lure Bersatu members to leave the party by offering them bribes.

The Bersatu Youth chief yesterday also challenged this senior aide to take legal action against him as he has been publicly named.

“Why hasn’t he come forward? He should be the one lodging reports against me with the police and MACC,” Syed Saddiq said at a press conference yesterday.

He named the senior aide when he told the press he was offered RM5 million to leave the country and pursue postgraduate studies at Oxford University.

The Malaysian Insight has been trying to contact the person.

Syed Saddiq, 25, said the same group of people had approached him with the offer three times since June last year.

He decided to blow the whistle on them after they allegedly threatened to reveal things about his family if he refused their offer.

He said yesterday he was blackmailed by the same people who threatened his family, after he went public on the matter.

The blackmail attempt came with several sensitive photos through a smartphone app early yesterday.

“Before this, it was primarily targeted at my family (brother and father). But the recent one was (targeted at) me. It’s blackmail now.” – October 5, 2017.