The director, who asked to remain anonymous, said some of these officials were director-generals of government departments.
“After Pakatan Harapan formed the federal government, they quickly changed their profile pictures.
“Suddenly, they put up their selfies or pictures of their families.
“I was quite surprised at how fast they did that. It means they know what they had done was not right,” he told FMT.
He said Naik, who lives in Putrajaya, still had close contacts with many senior officials, including in the police force, as he had been going around preaching Islam in the capital city.
“Some of them idolise him. I am not active in Facebook but in WhatsApp, I can see them putting pictures of Zakir Naik. Sometimes, the officer and Zakir are together in the profile pictures.”
The director said it would not be difficult for any enforcement agency to locate those who were in close contact with the preacher as all that was needed was to check the history of profile pictures in their WhatsApp.
So far, police have denied reports in Indian media that Naik was to be deported to India, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of money laundering and spreading extremism.
Inspector-General of Police Mohamed Fuzi Harun had told FMT that police had not received any information on the matter from the home ministry.
India’s NDTV had reported yesterday that Naik would be “out of the country tonight”, quoting Bukit Aman’s counter-terrorism officer Mohammed Raby Abu Bakar.
‘Time for government to work with India on Naik’
Klang MP Charles Santiago has urged the Pakatan Harapan government to revisit allegations linking Naik to extremism and money laundering.
He said it was timely to revisit the case to ascertain these allegations by the Indian government.
“We should revisit the case of Zakir Naik, whether he is a fugitive, if he is involved in money laundering, if he has links with terrorist groups or if he is an extremist.
“Our government should work with the Indian government on the matter,” he told FMT.
Naik was given permanent resident status in Malaysia by the previous Barisan Nasional government.
The preacher is accused of giving provocative speeches, which were cited as a reason by Bangladesh for an attack in Dhaka which left 22 people dead.
On March 31, it was reported in Times of India that the Indian government has officially sought Naik’s extradition.
This came after India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) had completed all formalities, including collection of evidence and filing of the charge sheet.
NIA investigates offences related to terrorism and several other acts that have national ramifications.
NIA is also probing Naik’s NGO, Islamic Research Foundation, over allegations of money laundering.
Zakir Naik photo campaign to establish contact with new power in Putrajaya?