KOTA KINABALU – The man claiming that his company pledged to donate Covid-19 vaccine doses to Sabah last year could not produce the offer letter, but insisted that it exists.
The Vibes has learnt that the Sabah Chief Minister’s Office has no record of receiving the letter said to offer the doses as donation from Yong Chee Kong, who claims to be acting on behalf of Hong Kong-based Xintai Development Enterprise.
Yong had last week told The Vibes that the offer to donate the Sinovac vaccine – first made to the Sabah government and later directed to Penang – was a kind gesture by his “boss”.
While the offer letter of two million doses to Penang has gone viral, the letter to Sabah remains elusive.
“All the letters to the prime minister, Sabah chief minister and Penang chief minister are from my workers and some middlemen to pass over (to the relevant offices),” Yong said when contacted.
“(On) my side, it is just (to) sign if my boss says okay. I will check with my people… let me check my letter to the chief minister (of Sabah).”
The Vibes has requested for the letter meant for Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor, but nothing has been forthcoming.
Although he insists the letter exists, Yong appears to be cautious in giving out information due to the controversy.
He said all the letters have been produced to police, who are now probing into his offer.
“We are only normal persons in Malaysia. We (are) doing this kind of things, and now we become so famous because of cheating government, and now I’m being investigated. You know how my feeling now (sic)?
“Now somebody asking me don’t talk too much. I really don’t know what is going on actually,” he said in a text message as he could not be met for an interview.
National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has described Yong’s earlier assertion that the minister’s aide had asked him to pay to a Kuala Lumpur-based company instead of procuring the vaccine directly as a serious allegation.
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow also called Yong’s statement that the letter bearing his signature was written by Penang DAP as a serious allegation and baseless.
Yong has since denied these, and told The Vibes that he has apologised to both Khairy and Chow over the controversy.
On May 20, Yong had told The Vibes that the vaccine offer was first made to the Sabah government, which would have benefitted the state’s 3.9 million-strong population.
“At that time, my boss wanted to invest in Malaysia, so a letter was written to the Chief Minister’s Office and its reply was that the Health Ministry had rejected the offer.
“This was because the Sinovac vaccine has not yet been approved.
“But we were told to write to the prime minister, which we did. The letter was passed to Khairy and was rejected, too.”
After the rejections, Yong proposed that the firm approach the Penang government, an opposition state.
On May 19, the issue erupted when Khairy dismissed as “bogus” an offer by a private company to supply two million Covid-19 vaccine doses to the Penang government.
His remarks came after Chow and former chief minister Lim Guan Eng rapped the federal government for rejecting the doses purportedly offered. – The Vibes, May 25, 2021
