Wee reveals call from Deepak as PMO dragged into egg issue

Ayer Hitam MP Wee Ka Siong today revealed that he had received a call yesterday from an individual named Deepak on the issue of egg imports from India previously raised by the former transport minister. 

The MCA president said the individual claimed to represent J&E Advanced Tech Sdn Bhd, the sole company given licence to import eggs from India. 

"He (Deepak) had talked with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and asked me to make a statement, saying that we could settle it out of court. 

"I didn't mention your company's name or your name. He said that lawyers had been instructed to file a writ of summons," he said in his debate on the Supply Bill 2023 at the committee level. 

MCA is part of the Barisan Nasional coalition, which joined hands with Pakatan Harapan to form the government in the wake of the 15th general election. 

MalaysiaNow previously reported that a blog had published photographs claiming to show controversial businessman Deepak Jaikishan on a flight to India alongside Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu.

MalaysiaNow attempted to reach both Mohamad and Deepak for a reponse but was unsuccessful. 

Deepak's name entered the spotlight after his claim that former prime minister Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor were involved in the 2006 murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

He also sued Najib and Rosmah over an alleged conspiracy which he claimed led to him suffering losses.

Wee said he had been assured by speaker Johari Abdul that anything said by MPs in the Dewan Rakyat was protected under the Federal Constitution. 

He was interrupted by Ramanan Ramakrishnan (PH-Sungai Buloh), who said the situation was a misuse of the PMO's name. 

Wee, who last month brought three eggs to the Dewan Rakyat to demonstrate the difference in price and quality, said he had already told Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that he disagreed with the decision on egg imports. 

"I don't think this was the prime minister's order," he added. 

"Someone was using the PMO's name. This should not have happened." 

Mohamad previously said the government had decided to import chicken eggs from India in order to tackle the problem of high prices, despite the country being one of the world's largest exporters of chicken eggs.

Nevertheless, only one company has an approved permit for the import of eggs. 

Mohamad said the company in question had the capacity and had also supplied eggs to Qatar during the 2022 World Cup.

The PMO meanwhile said it would not hesitate to take action against any party intentionally misusing the name or position of the office.

"Such acts are extremely irresponsible and give rise to a negative impact on the credibility of the PMO and government institution," it said in a statement.