DHAKA: Malaysia opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has admitted that Malaysia Airlines MH370 pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah is related to his son’s in-laws.

‘I am not denying that he (Zaharie) is related to one of my in-laws and that I have met him on several occasions.’

‘In fact, he is a close friend of (PKR supreme council member and Subang MP) R Sivarasa, as we said before,’ Anwar told reporters at the Parliament lobby here on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.

Earlier, Anwar was quoted by South China Morning Post as saying, ‘I don’t recollect the name (Zaharie), but when the photographs were shown, I remembered I had seen him at party meetings’, he said.

He also said they had had no personal contact, but Capt Zaharie was a follower of his Twitter account.

On Sunday, his party Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) dismissed a British tabloid report which claimed Capt Zaharie is a ‘political fanatic’.

PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil said the Daily Mail report was ‘wild allegations’ and the paper ‘is a sensationalist tabloid known for cooking up stories’.

The tabloid claimed that Capt Zaharie commanded the doomed flight about several hours after he had attended Anwar’s sodomy trial.

BDST: 1740 HRS, MAR 18, 2014