State police commissioner Hazani Ghazali said they had only called Yong Chee Kong to the Sabah police contingent headquarters in Kepayan to record his statement to help in the probe over the issue.
“He was not arrested. Who said he was? These are just rumours (by people) trying to be smart,” he told FMT when asked over such claims.
“The investigation paper was opened by the Penang police and we are just assisting them to record his (Yong) statement.”
Asked whether Yong would be called in further, he said: “Let’s see … if the Penang police are satisfied with the statement, then the matter can be referred to the DPP (deputy public prosecutor).
“If not, then we will call him in again, but so far the statement recorded is complete.”
Yong had gone to the station at 1pm and is believed to have been allowed to leave an hour later.
FMT has also reached out to Yong but he has asked to call later.
Yong, an employee of Hong Kong-based private investment company Xintai Enterprise Development Ltd, had yesterday claimed the offer to supply the two million doses of the vaccine to the Penang government was genuine.
The 58-year-old had claimed his Hong Kong employer had told him to write to the Penang government to offer the vaccines after their letter of offer to the Sabah government was rejected by the health ministry in January.
National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin had previously called the offer of two million doses of the Sinovac vaccine to the Penang government a “scam” and “bogus”, a claim Yong had rejected.
He was referring to an earlier claim made by Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow the day before for the donor who made the vaccine offer to come forward and clarify matters.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Chow and former finance minister Lim Guan Eng revealed a letter with a free offer of two million doses of the Sinovac vaccine that was made to the state.
During Khairy’s virtual press conference yesterday, he showed the letter which was submitted by Chow last February.
According to Khairy, he could find no evidence that the alleged donor “Yong Chee Kong” or the Hong Kong-based company mentioned in the letter, “Xintai Development Enterprise Ltd”, were real.
But speaking to FMT later, Yong countered Khairy’s claim, saying he never stated he was the owner of the company. He also claimed the company has a paid-up capital of HK$300 million (RM160 million).
He said the minister also got the company’s name wrong, adding that “Xintai Development Enterprise Ltd”, as mentioned by Khairy, and “Xintai Enterprise Development Ltd”, the actual name, were not the same.
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