Anwar reiterated that the government had spent RM1.6 million to charter a plane to travel to four countries, while the representatives from the private firms had forked out RM4.5 million of their own money to take up the remaining seats on the plane.

He said if the government had used its executive jet, the cost would have come up to RM2.5 million.

“I repeat, the government did not use funds from the private sector. There is no conflict of interest. Do not fall into this trap,” he said in a post on social media.

Anwar was responding to a report by Sinar Harian, which quoted the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) CEO Pushpan Murugiah as saying the government should have considered the possible conflict of interest between the government and private sector in this matter.

Pushpan also said the government could be pressured to return the favour by the companies who had defrayed the cost.

On Friday, unity government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil said the government’s delegation shared a chartered flight with the private sector representatives during the trips.

He said sharing a chartered flight was more cost-effective than if the government’s delegation had flown on the official government jet, Perdana One, on their own

Fahmi said Putrajaya only covered the costs incurred by its delegation. The companies paid for their representatives who joined the trips.

He said the government also covered its delegation’s accommodation, food and transportation.

On Thursday, Anwar told the Dewan Rakyat that several companies had covered the cost of his working visits to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Peru, Brazil and Qatar, which also included representatives from the firms in question.

The prime minister said the likes of Petronas, Sapura Energy, Yinson and Proton had borne 70-80% of the cost.

Opposition party Muda later questioned how these firms were selected and whether there were any tangible benefits for these companies, while Bersatu Youth wanted Anwar to be investigated.