KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 — Umno’s Khairy Jamaluddin said he will fully cooperate with any investigation into claims that he benefited from the Covid-19 vaccine procurement as minister in charge of the National Immunisation Programme (PICK).
The health minister pointed out that he had already given his statement to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the matter, but is ready to be called for questioning again provided his accusers can show proof.
“I have no problem, anyone can accuse me, but there must be proof. [And] if there is evidence please investigate,” he told Mingguan Malaysia, the Sunday edition of Malay daily Utusan Malaysia.
Khairy noted that he had already provided the PAC with all the documents for the Covid-19 vaccine procurements for the country, including the prices paid and the justification for the selection made.
“The committee can make the conclusion after I showed all the documents that the management and also the procurement of our vaccines are done well and in an orderly manner,” he was quoted saying further.
Prior to being appointed health minister, Khairy was in charge of the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry.
He was given the responsibility to handle Malaysia’s Covid-19 immunisation programme in that role before the task was passed on to the Health Ministry last November.
PAC has disclosed that the previous Muhyiddin federal government allocated RM5 billion for PICK. This included RM3.5 billion for the purchase of the Covid-19 vaccines.
Khairy also said he is waiting for the PAC report on MySejahtera, the mobile app developed by a private company, KPISoft (M) Sdn Bhd that the Health Ministry has made into a compulsory registration and tracking tool to curb the pandemic.
“There may be a few disadvantages in terms of turnover. Never mind, we will try to improve. But in terms of data validity, ownership and security, I have made it clear to the PAC that indeed no one can misuse data in MySejahtera,” he told the Malay newspaper.
On April 21, PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh said that the government appeared to be “confused” and could not ascertain who decided on the development and procurement of MySejahtera.
The PAC investigation was initiated after news broke that MySejahtera’s developer Entomo Malaysia was in a five-year licence agreement with its nominee’s subsidiary MySJ for the transfer of the MySejahtera app to the latter for a RM338.6 million price tag.
MySejahtera’s ownership also caught public attention following a shareholder dispute initiated by MySJ’s 7.03 per cent shareholder P2 Asset Management Sdn Bhd against Revolusi Asia Sdn Bhd, Entomo Malaysia and MySJ.
Revolusi is a nominee for Entomo in holding the majority stake of 81.43 per cent in MySJ.
The app was originally a CSR initiative by Entomo Malaysia, then known as KPISoft.
Despite Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob previously saying that the government would pay for MySejahtera’s usage from April 1, 2021, the PAC confirmed that no payment has been made so far.
The PAC, in a December 2021 report, said that the government should not be paying for the use of the app as it was developed as a CSR initiative.
