He said the allegation was not true and the report was written to undermine public confidence in the coalition.
He said the report was based on a source and there was no evidence that the CEP had overstepped its boundaries.
“There are no issues over the alleged interference by the CEP in Cabinet functions. The Cabinet ministers are not making such allegations; it is based on assumptions.
“If this is from Khazanah, they are from the previous regime and Khazanah is under a restructuring process to make it more effective.
“The Cabinet is in full control over the matter and there is no such thing as just one person interfering,” he said, referring to sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional which saw nine directors, including its managing director Azman Mokhtar and executive committee chairman Nor Md Yusof, tendering their resignations.
The resignations come weeks after Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad criticised Khazanah for deviating from its initial purpose of helping Bumiputeras.
Tian Chua told FMT that the role of the CEP, set up right after the May 9 polls, was specific in that it was to carry out institutional reforms.
A report in The Straits Times (ST) stated that questions and concern over the role and power of CEP were spreading among those in “the corridors of power”.
The Treasury, the report said, had become the frontline of a battle with Daim as decisions over mega-projects and government-linked companies, including Khazanah, were being contested.
The ST reported on speculation that Khazanah’s top management had been asked to step down by the CEP and that similar requests had been made to other government-linked company captains.
This has not gone down well with everyone. ST quoted an unnamed official as saying: “There is even a Cabinet paper on moving Khazanah to the Prime Minister’s Office, waiting to be discussed.”
Tian Chua, the former Batu MP, said Daim’s trip to China was purely a working trip as the PH government did not have a special envoy like what BN had when they appointed Ong Ka Ting to China and S Samy Vellu to India.
“The reason (for not having special envoys) is that we have ambassadors there to do the job. Daim went to China as a one-off mission to discuss issues before the PM goes there.
“CEP does not dictate to the government on what it should do. Basically, it will go back to the PM and the PM will make the necessary judgments. Trying to say there is a rift in the Cabinet with CEP is malicious.”
Stating there is no truth in the report, he said the PH government is going all out to focus on working hard to fulfil election pledges in its manifesto.