Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik said his ministry had merely offered the organisers conditional tax exemption as it would have to anyone organising concerts or cultural events, with strict conditions to be met.

“We have given general support to many people,” he told FMT.

“Every now and then, people come to us asking us to support their event. We generally support those who ask us, but only if it boosts tourism.”

He said organisers would be given a conditional letter for tax deduction purposes as long as the events are related to local culture.

“Only then do they qualify for a deduction,” he added.

The concert in question, featuring famous acts from Taiwan, was called off on Sept 21 after the artistes claimed they had not received full payment, fuelling questions of impropriety.

The artistes’ managers said they had only received half of their payment, while another half due to them before the event had not been received.

The managers also claimed that a fake telegraphic transfer snapshot dated Sept 12 was sent to them by the lawyer of WGW Entertainment Sdn Bhd, hence their decision to withdraw from the concert.

The company subsequently apologised to those who had bought tickets, saying that a lawyer keeping the money in an escrow account had gone missing.

Gerakan later questioned the ministry’s denial that it had supported the event by letting the concert company use its logo and by offering it tax exemption.

Bakhtiar, who is also Balik Pulau MP, said show-cause letters had been sent to those claiming that the concert organisers had wrongly used the ministry’s logo.

He said while the Visit Malaysia 2020 and Cuti-Cuti Malaysia logos are part of the public domain and free for use, the ministry’s logo cannot be used by private companies unless they are strategic partners.

“We have made that clear many times,” he added.

He also said the company was now on the ministry’s watch list and would be treated with extra caution if it requested approvals for other events.