Chow: This is a serious and baseless allegation. The Penang DAP has never written any letter as claimed and we have lodged a report at the Jalan Patani Police Station today.
GEORGE TOWN (May 21): The Penang DAP has lodged a police report against the individual who allegedly offered two million doses of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine to the state.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who is also the Penang DAP chairman, said it had never written any letter as alleged by the individual identified as Yong Chee Kong, as reported by local media.
“This is a serious and baseless allegation. The Penang DAP has never written any letter as claimed and we have lodged a report at the Jalan Patani Police Station today.
“The offer to donate two million vaccine doses to Penang has become a controversy that deviates from the real purpose of the state government raising the matter at a previous news conference,” he said in a statement today.
Chow said it was not the state government’s intention to argue with any quarters, including the federal government, and promised that it would give full cooperation to the authorities in future investigation.
He explained that the state government’s main objective was to expedite the procurement of the additional vaccine supply to increase the vaccination rate, thus protecting the lives of the people and the state economy.
Meanwhile, Chow said the Penang State Executive Council had discussed the issue on May 19 and decided to focus on the best approach to obtain additional vaccine supply as soon as possible, namely by using the state government funds.
In this regard, he said the state government had sent a letter to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to seek approval to purchase the vaccine directly from the local supplier company approved by the federal government or directly from the manufacturing company.
“The state government reiterates our commitment to putting aside political differences to make the campaign to fight the Covid-19 pandemic a success, including the implementation of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
“I want to take this opportunity to apologise for this controversy and I hope that we can continue all of our efforts in facing the upcoming Covid-19 challenges for the wellbeing of all people in this country,” he said.
Read also:
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Penang urges private company to explain its free vaccine offer after Khairy’s expose
