A businessperson behind the alleged scam involving two million Sinovac doses, never made any contact with Pharmaniaga to purchase the vaccine for Penang, according to the pharmaceutical company in partnership with the vaccine's Chinese manufacturer.
Pharmaniaga managing director Zulkarnain Md Eusope (above) said this today when asked by the media if Yong Chee Kong and the company he purportedly represented - Xintai Development Enterprise Ltd - had been in contact with his group to facilitate any purchase of the vaccines.
"Regarding Yong, we never had any contact. They (Yong and the company) never contacted us and we also did not contact them," Zulkarnian said.
Pharmaniaga's unit, Pharmaniaga Lifescience Sdn Bhd (PLS), is supplying doses of the ready-to-fill Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sivovac Life Sciences Co Ltd, and will later manufacture the vaccine domestically.
Yong, a Malaysian who works for Hong Kong-based Xintai Development Enterprise, was reported to have initially offered to donate Sinovac vaccines to the Sabah government, which the state rejected.
He claimed that the Penang government then approached him about getting the vaccines.
His attempt to donate vaccines came to light after de facto Covid-19 Vaccination Minister Khairy Jamaluddin dismissed the offer as a scam.
Earlier today, Penang police said they will record the testimonies of several witnesses to assist in investigations over the allegedly fraudulent offer of the Covid-19 Sinovac vaccine made to the state.
Penang police chief Sahabudin Abd Manan said so far they had received six police reports from several individuals representing political parties, including from the Penang Chief Minister's office.
"On May 19, Penang police received a police report regarding the statement by Khairy that the vaccine contribution (offer) to the chief minister was a scam.
"Following the police report, an investigation has been conducted by the Penang Commercial Crime Investigation Department under Sections 420 and 511 of the Penal Code," he said in a statement today.
Sahabudin said the investigation was still at an early stage and several actions needed to be taken, including recording the conversations of witnesses from the relevant companies, the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme office and the Penang Chief Minister's office.
The initial investigation found that the author of the letter offering 2 million doses of Sinovac vaccine was only a verbally appointed representative of Xintai Development Enterprise and not the company's managing director as stated in the letter, he added.
Yong had earlier been questioned by police in Sabah over the Penang vaccine offer.
Sabah police chief Hazani Ghazali said police were investigating the case, but did not say whether Yong would be arrested.- Mkini
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