KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 — Malaysia’s Covid-19 vaccine procurement received all the necessary approvals, which was subsequently confirmed by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

Khairy was responding to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s remarks that some ministers from previous administrations had signed off on the procurement without the express approval of the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC).

“All vaccine procurement was made with approval from the Cabinet and the Treasury, taking into account views from all agencies.

“The procurement was proper. This was confirmed by the PAC, which investigated the matter,” Khairy was quoted as saying by The Star.

Khairy, who oversaw the implementation of the nationwide mass vaccination exercise during his last two stints in the Cabinet, also expressed confidence that there would be satisfactory answers for lawmakers when the matter was presented to the Dewan Rakyat.

In a post-Cabinet meeting press conference today, Anwar said “irregularities” were discovered with the multi-billion-ringgit purchase of Covid-19 vaccines for the country, which will be presented in a White Paper from the Health Ministry at the parliamentary meeting starting next week.

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, two ministries were put in charge of Covid-19 pandemic-related matters as well as the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK).

Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba was the health minister while Khairy was then the science, technology and innovation minister during the administration under Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin beginning March 2020.

Adham and Khairy then swapped their portfolio when Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob took over from Muhyiddin as prime minister in August 2021. - malaymail