KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — Health Minister Dr Adham Baba has sent C4 Center a letter of demand for RM30 million and a public apology over allegations related to his private clinic chain.
Dr Adham, who runs the Klinik Adham network in Johor, yesterday denied a conflict of interest in the supply of Covid-19 lab tests to the government.
Free Malaysia Today reported Dr Adham’s lawyers as saying in the letter of demand that C4 Center had seven days to pay the minister RM30 million and to issue a public apology, failing which legal action would be taken against the anti-corruption group.
“C4’s claims are slander,” Dr Adham’s counsel, Nasser Yusof, was quoted saying.
“They imply that the minister is corrupt, and this has spoilt his good image.”
C4 alleged in a statement yesterday that Klinik Adham was connected to Khazanah Jaya Sdn Bhd (KJSB), a property development company reportedly under a corruption investigation over its supply of a laboratory construction project to the Ministry of Health (MOH).
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is reportedly investigating contracts worth at least RM30 million to supply MOH Covid-19 tests, personal protective equipment (PPE), and face masks.
According to C4, citing Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) searches, KJSB shareholders and directors are two individuals with the surname Tan. These two are also shareholders and directors of another company dubbed SAN. One of the former directors of SAN is an individual whom C4 noted happens to be a shareholder and director in Klinik Adham.
Dr Adham’s office said in response that the minister did not have any business interests in KJSB and had never instructed MOH officers to give a contract to KJSB or any other company, as it described C4’s claims as “untrue” and a form of “character assassination”.
Dr Adham, who is also Tenggara MP from Umano, told CodeBlue that MOH did not instruct Chinese genome sequencing company BGI Group — which is providing automated testing at the Institute of Medical Research here and Makmal Kesihatan Awam in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah — to partner with any particular Malaysian company.
When asked for a response to Dr Adham’s demands, C4 founder Cynthia Gabriel told CodeBlue: “We are working on it”.
