PETALING JAYA: CIMB Group chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak (pic) is mulling legal action against an anonymous blogger over online attacks directed at him and his family.

The attacks, said Nazir, came after he wrote an article about his father, Malaysia’s second prime minister the late Tun Abdul Razak, and his own comments on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Noting that the blogger, known as “ahrily90”, was first revealed by The Edge Media group owner Datuk Tong Kooi Ong in a statement last week, Nazir said his children had become online targets as a result.

“I note from Tong … that he (‘ahrily90’) has a trail of evidence that proves (his) identity (as) the person behind these attacks.

“If this is indeed the case upon my review of the evidence, I will certainly initiate civil and criminal proceedings against the person concerned,” he said in a statement here yesterday.

Nazir, who is Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s brother, said he was doing this to protect his reputation and shield his wife and children from the blog attacks.

He said although he had been aware of the attacks by the blogger for months, he was unable to take legal action as he did not know the attacker’s identity.

Previously, a report by an online news portal identified “ahrily90” as having targeted Tong and former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, among others.

It said the blogger wrote articles supportive of businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, who was said to have “considerable influence” over 1MBD.

The report also indicated that “ahrily90” wrote an article suggesting that Tong was involved in the shorting of the ringgit for US$1.4bil (RM4.9bil).

On Feb 6, Tong served a notice to Low demanding that he stop “fabricating malicious lies” against The Edge and The Malaysian Insider.

Tong claimed that Low was responsible for the attacks and that he shut down the sites carrying them.

Low has since denied responsibility, adding that his lawyers would contact Tong over the notice.-thestar