By SHAUN HO

PETALING JAYA: The sex video implicating Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim surfaced on YouTube, but was removed close to midnight.

The one-minute and 47-second clip was uploaded on YouTube on Sunday and was also discovered on Facebook yesterday.

A notice on YouTube at about 11.35pm yesterday stated that the video “was removed as a violation of YouTube's policy on nudity or sexual content”.

Media editors who had viewed the 22-minute video on March 21 confirmed that the footage was the same.

Since then, three men have claimed responsibility for the screening of the sex video.

Calling themselves Datuk T, the three were former Malacca chief minister Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik, businessman Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah and Perkasa treasurer Datuk Shuaib Lazim. Eskay admitted to the media then that he was also in the video.

In his reaction from Sibu yesterday, Anwar was quoted by an online portal as saying: “Now, the video has been distributed. And whether the person looks like me or not, I don't care. It wasn't me.”

Anwar has already lodged a police report stating that he is not the man in the video.

The clip does not show any sex act as it is only the beginning of the original 22-minute recording, and did not have a time stamp.

It shows a man clad in a towel walking around in a room in the presence of another man dressed in slacks and a short-sleeved shirt. A woman with Chinese features, who was wearing a tube dress when sitting on the bed, went into the bathroom and emerged only in a towel.

The camera is located on what looks like a dressing table. It has an unobstructed view of the bed.

The face of the towel-clad, pudgy-looking man in short hair can be seen several times.

He, however, does not stand in place long enough for his face to be clearly identified.

The video was also posted on a pro-Umno blog at 4.33pm yesterday. However, the clip was found to have been removed.

The blogger, Papagomo, has promised to reveal other sections of the video soon.

A sentence in Thai language could be seen across the screen, raising speculation that the video was uploaded in Thailand.