Deputy Minister In Support Letter Scandal Says He Asked For It To Be Cancelled

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Deputy defence minister Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz says he regrets having written a letter of support for his son but remembers writing a follow-up letter asking for it to be cancelled
Ikmal Hisham had in the first letter asked Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to "support" his son's bid to become a board member of Pharmaniaga Bhd which is owned by the Defence Ministry's Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT)
"I regret what happened, I know there were weaknesses. God willing, I will correct it later. That letter was old, from June 5," he said in a statement today
"As far as I remember, I wrote another letter, in which I asked the minister (Ismail) to retract my suggested request and informed the minister to cancel it
"In fact, I also informed the LTAT not to appoint (my son) to any board," he added
Yesterday, Ismail confirmed with Malaysiakini that he had received the letter but said he did not proceed with the appointment due to nepotism concerns despite initially scribbling his "support" on the letter
Explaining his actions, Ikmal Hisham claimed that as a deputy minister he could have gone directly to the LTAT
However, he wrote to Ismail instead out of "respect."He said he would explain further on the controversy in Parliament on Monday
A copy of a support letter had gone viral on social media yesterday
The letter addressed Ismail was dated June 5 and contained a handwritten note by Ismail where he minuted to the chairperson of the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) his nod to the suggestion to appoint Ikmal's son
Pharmaniaga's majority shareholder is Boustead Holdings. The LTAT, in turn, holds a majority stake in Boustead as well as a smaller stake in Pharmaniaga. - Mkini

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