KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said he will take legal action against those who said he and his wife were on holiday in the Netherlands during the recovery movement control order (RMCO).
Harian Metro reported Khairuddin, who is under fire for refusing to heed Covid-19 quarantine rules, saying they had instead gone to the Netherlands between 2016 and 2019 ― after photos of them went viral online recently.
“There are posts stating that I went to the Netherlands, so I want to inform you that I went there not recently, and it was a previous programme,” he was reported as saying.
The minister also said that he will be considering legal action against those who made the allegation.
“I only went to Turkey so anyone who made fake news on the internet, wait for a letter from me. I hope no one else spreads this fake news,” he reportedly added.
Khairuddin had visited Turkey between July 3 and 7, but was already back in Parliament on July 13.
Under the National Security Council’s SOP, all returnees are tested on arrival and those with negative results must then serve out their 14-day quarantine, while those who test positive are sent to a hospital for further treatment.
A breach of this order is punishable under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 by up to two years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both upon conviction.
He was fined only RM1,000, and has since said he would donate five months’ worth of salary to a fund to fight Covid-19.
Yesterday, the police said they will soon submit the investigation paper over Khairuddin’s failure to comply with a mandatory home quarantine after returning from Turkey in July.
