The individual, identified only as Mr A, filed a police report at the district police headquarters here, accompanied by his lawyers Latheefa Koya and Mahajoth Singh.

“Today, Mr A lodged a police report for his own safety following the kidnapping of Ling, who has yet to be found.

“The similarity between both of them is that they were called in to give statements to MACC several times, not just once or twice. He is worried about his safety,” Latheefa told reporters outside the police headquarters.

She also said Mr A lodged a police report in November 2024 after receiving a death threat, but claimed that no action had been taken by the authorities.

“The perpetrator sent him a photo of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe,” she said, adding that Abe was assassinated in 2022.

Latheefa said that based on today’s police report, if anything were to happen to her client, the police should know that he had not simply disappeared on his own.

Ling reportedly went missing on April 9 while en route to the MACC headquarters to give her statement.

Her brother, Simon, claimed that his sister was abducted.

He said the e-hailing car in which Ling was travelling was intercepted by three unidentified vehicles and that she was instructed to get into one of them.

Mr A’s decision to file a police report came a day after Mahajoth reiterated a call for the government to provide his client, known as Albert, with whistleblower protection.

Mahajoth told Malaysiakini that Ling’s abduction sent a “chilling message” and asked how Albert could feel safe while in possession of evidence implicating VVIPs.

The whistleblower previously leaked videos implicating several Sabah assemblymen in the alleged scandal.

In January, MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki said the agency had completed its probe into the purported whistleblower and the former CEO of a company linked to the case, with the investigation papers submitted to the deputy public prosecutor.