NCIP Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaludin said that checks made with Sinovac showed there is no evidence to show that the company — Xintai Development Enterprise — had approached them to purchase the vaccines for Penang state. — Reuters pic
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KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaludin today said that the donation of two million doses of Covid-19 Sinovac vaccines from a private company offered to the Penang state is bogus and untrue.
In a press conference, the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NCIP) coordinating minister said that checks made with Sinovac showed there is no evidence to show that the company — Xintai Development Enterprise — had approached them to purchase the vaccines for Penang state.
“I’ve reached out to Ms Coco Chang, Head of International Sales at Sinovac Biotech on this donation and she has informed me that she has had zero dealings with the company or the person the letter was addressed to — Yong Chee Kong,” he said.
“The offer is bogus. It is completely untrue. We checked with Sinovac and they have no dealings with the company, we checked with company records in Hong Kong, and the company does not exist. No one even knows who Yong Chee Kong is.”
A scanned image of the bogus letter. — Picture courtesy of National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme
He also said the Penang state government should not have politicised the matter by accusing the federal government of blocking its attempt to procure Covid-19 vaccines.
“How can the Penang state government use a scam letter to accuse the federal government of blocking a vaccine donation? This company does not exist.
“This is a vaccine, a highly-regulated product. This isn’t buying a t-shirt from Shopee. This letter is bogus,” he added, referring to the online shopping platform.
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