Khairuddin to sue portal over old holiday snapshot

Plantations minister Khairuddin Aman Razali said he had gone to the Netherlands with his wife between 2016 and 2019. (Twitter pic)

PARIT: Plantations minister Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said today he will sue a web portal that published an old holiday snapshot taken in the Netherlands in 2016, alleging that he had gone on holiday while the movement control order was in force.

The photograph was published in the wake of an outcry against him for not obeying rules on home quarantine after making a trip to Turkey recently.

Khairuddin denied going on holiday to the Netherlands while the recovery movement control order was in force, as alleged.

‘’I did not go to the Netherlands lately (but) in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 for other projects, and not during this RMCO. I only went to Turkey during the RMCO,” said Khairuddin, who is MP for Kuala Nerus.

‘’As far as I can remember, the picture was (taken) in 2016 when I went to the Netherlands to meet with officers of the International Criminal Court to take Israel to court in a criminal case against Palestine.

‘’As a result of a meeting in 2018, I went again in May 2019 for a second negotiation and now the case is in the process of being taken to court,’’ he told reporters here today.

The photograph used in the online report showed Khairuddin and his wife with a background of a windmill, which is usually associated with the Netherlands.

He said he would take legal action against the media organisation for making a false report.

‘’Anybody who concocts fake news on the internet will be receiving a letter of summons from my lawyer. Today, I ordered my lawyer to sue a news company which had a false news report about me and my wife going to the Netherlands. I hope no more reporters will make such fake news,’’ he said.

Khairuddin recently came under fire, with calls for him to step down from his post, after failing to comply with the mandatory house quarantine upon returning from Turkey in July.

Bukit Aman, prior to this, had opened an investigation paper against the minister and 27 police reports were received on the matter from all over the country. - FMT