PETALING JAYA: The Human Resource Development Corp (HRD Corp) has denied allegations laid out against one of its officials in an article published in an online news portal today.
In the report, the news portal claimed that the finance ministry had discovered discrepancies in the contract and procurement process involving a HRD Corp key official, who the news portal said had supposedly “misled” the ministry.
In a statement, HRD Corp said the news portal did not make any attempt to contact it prior to publishing the “misleading” article, adding that it had instructed its lawyers to initiate legal action to ensure the article is retracted and the news portal apologises.
“The article contained false and defamatory statements that have caused serious damage to HRD Corp’s reputation and integrity,” it said.
“We take serious offence to the incorrect allegations in the article.
“We will not allow such baseless allegations to go unchallenged and we will be taking all necessary actions to defend our reputation and protect our interests.”
It said that matters addressed in a finance ministry letter, which allegedly discovered discrepancies in a contract and procurement, and which the news portal claimed it had sighted, had been answered and resolved at HRD Corp’s board meetings.
It also said the contents of the letter were protected under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and were not meant for public consumption or media publication.