Syed Fazmi Sayid Mohammad denied that it was his voice in the recording, adding that he was “shocked and disappointed” after the audio had gone viral on social media.

Describing the “fake audio recording” as malicious, he said it was political manoeuvring aimed at tarnishing his reputation, having served as Ismail’s political secretary when he was the ninth prime minister.

“It is also a malicious conspiracy planned by certain parties to bring down Ismail, the former prime minister and Umno vice-president.

“I hope a probe can be conducted to identify the masterminds responsible for this,” he said in a statement, after lodging a report at the Shah Alam police headquarters.

In the audio, a man alleged to be Syed Fazmi told another person, purportedly Salim, that they needed “to kill off Bossku’s credibility”.