Khazanah demands retraction, correction and apology from The Malaysian Insider
We refer to the article “Parliament’s bipartisan oversight panel probes Khazanah’s costly ventures” and “PAC siasat perbelanjaan melampau Khazanah” by The Malaysian Insider published early this morning on 24 October 2013, and other related articles and reports in this regard.
The said articles expressly state or imply that Khazanah had failed to respond to a letter or queries made by the Auditor General in respect of its operations and investments, and that this has been left unattended in the last month.
We wish to categorically state the following:
- There is no such letter or request from the Auditor General.
- Khazanah has always responded to the Auditor General in a professional and timely manner whether in the past month or at any point in time.
- Furthermore, at no time did The Malaysian Insider contact Khazanah or its officers to check on the veracity of these claims before it published the said erroneous articles.
In this regard, we take seriously the erroneous and irresponsible reporting by The Malaysian Insider and we have through our solicitors issued a Letter of Demand for a retraction, correction, and an appropriate apology in respect of the false statements and erroneous reporting, and reserve our rights to legal and other appropriate recourse.
Khazanah wishes to reiterate that it views positively both the genuine concerns of the public and the various oversight measures placed on us, inter alia, external audit, internal audit, and the National Audit Department’s periodic audits as well as other valid oversight mechanisms, as a positive check and balance to strengthen our systems and performance. In this regard, Khazanah is pleased to inform that it has participated in a total of six hearings before the Public Accounts Committee since 2006 and we will continue to do so in future as and when required.
Notwithstanding the above, as stated above and as contained in our Letter of Demand to The Malaysian Insider, we reiterate that these reports are misleading, erroneous and factually incorrect.
END