PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek (pic) has denied there was a Cabinet "walkout" over a disagreement.
The Communications and Multimedia Minister was reportedly among three ministers who had left early during a Cabinet meeting.
"Everything was discussed in a civil manner. We may argue on certain things but at the end of the day, Cabinet needs to be informed.
“This is in case it cost public money because the public think the collection of Goods and Services Tax will be used to bail out 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)," Ahmad Shabery said on Thursday.
He said with governance, Cabinet ministers would leave it to the system to investigate if there has been any wrongdoing, questioning the credibility of the media that reported the alleged walkout.
"By me denying their reports via my tweets, this will affect their credibility among their readers.
"My tweets can go viral, and even Khairy Jamaluddin has denied the walkout. People will question their reports and credibility in the future," he said.
He had also tweeted a picture of the article on his official account, @shaberyc, commenting: "is this the new method to sell papers by creating sensational stories that are not true?"
It was reported by China Press that three Cabinet ministers - Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, Ahmad Shabery Cheek and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin - had walked out of a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Quoting sources, the Mandarin-language daily said that Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin uncharacteristically left the meeting room after the session ended, a break from the normal procedure where ministers would stay back to further discuss Cabinet decisions.
Shafie, Khairy, Ahmad Shabery WALKED OUT on Najib at Cabinet meet: Muhyiddin too showed displeasure over 1MDB
Three cabinet ministers reportedly walked out of the cabinet meeting today, as speculation mounts over a rift between ministers on the handling of the 1MDB debacle.
Quoting sources, China Press reports that the trio were Rural and Regional Development Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal, Communication and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek and Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
The daily also reported that Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin uncharacteristically left the meeting room after the session was concluded.
The source told the daily that normally, cabinet ministers would stay back after the meeting was concluded for further deliberations on cabinet decisions.
Of the four cabinet ministers, Shafie, Khairy and Muhyiddin have all gone on record to demand for accountability for 1MDB's problem
Recently, the spotlight has fallen on Shafie because of his comments which appear to be an attempt to disassociate cabinet from 1MDB's problems.
However, as reported by Malaysiakini earlier, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is 1MDB's final decision maker.
As the Umno Youth leader, Khairy had demanded that the authorities expedite their probe on 1MDB.
As for Muhyiddin, he had called for 1MDB's top leadership to be sacked. - M'kini
