“During my time, I am not aware of any,” Hishammuddin said in a brief reply to FMT when asked to respond on the report.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said Malaysia was among the customers of cyber-spy companies in Israel, purchasing systems that allow governments to collate information from social networks.

Yesterday, former deputy home minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said allegations that the previous Malaysian government had purchased spying tools from Israeli companies should be referred to the Ministry of Defence.

Haaretz’s investigation spanning 15 countries revealed that Israel is a leading exporter of tools for spying on civilians.

Private Israeli companies, the daily reported, had also sold espionage and intelligence-gathering software to Bahrain, Indonesia, Bangladesh and El Salvador, among others.

“In addition, the investigation corroborated earlier reports over the years about sales to Malaysia, Vietnam, Mexico, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Peru, Colombia, Uganda, Nigeria, Ecuador and the United Arab Emirates,” the report said.

In 2011, Putrajaya said that despite Malaysia not having diplomatic relations with Israel, trade between businesses in both countries existed.