GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow today apologised for the controversy arising from the vaccine donation scam.
Chow said it was never the Penang government's intention to be engaged in a war of words with anyone, let alone the federal government.
He also said the state government had lodged a police report at the Jalan Patani police station this morning.
This followed an interview with Yong Chee Kong, the person said to have made the offer to donate two million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Penang, after he revealed that the letter bearing his signature was written by the Penang DAP to be presented as a formal offer.
"This is a serious and baseless allegation. Penang DAP had never written the alleged letter. We lodged a police report today.
"I also want to take this opportunity to apologise for the controversy. It is my hope that we can continue all efforts in facing the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic for the good of the people of this country," he said in a statement today.
A man, claiming to be Yong, had in a telephone interview with an English news portal claimed that he had reached out to the Sabah government, via the Chief Minister, but when they did not respond, Penang approached him and said since Sabah had rejected the offer, why not offer it to the opposition.
He had also explained that the letter bearing his signature was written by the Penang DAP to be presented as a formal offer and that it unfortunately carried his private address and not that of a company.
The controversy surrounding the vaccine donation came about after Chow's predecessor, Lim Guan Eng, told a press conference attended by the duo on Tuesday that he was shocked that the Health Ministry had not approved Penang's request to accept the donation of two million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from a private company to the state government.
Lim was angered over the Health Ministry's rejection.
He had said then that all frontliners, including the media, and those in the high-risk group would have been vaccinated by now if the vaccine donation was allowed.
He had also said that Penang should just accept the vaccine donation and not wait for approval, and to accept whatever punishment meted out on them later, if any.
Following Lim's outburst, netizens took to social media to bash the federal government.
On Wednesday, Coordinating Minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) Khairy Jamaluddin revealed that the vaccine donation for the supply of two million doses of the Covid-19 Sinovac vaccine to the Penang government, allegedly made by a private company, was bogus and a scam.
In his statement today, Chow said the vaccine donation offer had erupted into a controversy and deviated from its initial intention when the state government raised the issue during Tuesday's press conference.
"This is an unfortunate development...it was never the state government's intention to be engaged in a war of words with anyone, including the federal government.
"Rather, the main objective of the state government is to procure additional Covid-19 vaccine supplies as soon as possible to hasten the vaccination rate to protect lives and at the same time rescue the economy," he added.
Chow said since Khairy had alleged that the vaccine donation was a scam and a police report had been lodged, on behalf of the Penang government, he promised to render fullest assistance to the authorities in the course of their investigations.
He stressed that the real issue was the procurement of the Covid-19 vaccine supply for the people in Penang.
In this regard, Chow said the state executive council, during its meeting on Wednesday, had discussed this controversy and decided to focus on the best approach to procure Covid-19 vaccines in the near future to fulfil the demands
of the people in the state who want to be vaccinated as soon as possible.
"As such, the state exco has decided to use the state government's funds to procure additional Covid
-19 vaccines immediately besides the supply to be given by the federal government for the use of the state.
"For that reason, I have written to Khairy, who is also the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister today, to seek approval for us to procure the vaccine directly from the supplier approved by the federal government in the state or from vaccine producing companies.
"I hope the federal government will give us positive feedback on our application. Again, the Penang government reiterates its commitment to set aside political differences to ensure the success of the campaigns to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, including the implementation of the NIP.