Haziq responds to show-cause letter

Sharing is caring: Kok distributing the duit raya to underprivileged children at the ministry’s Hari Raya gathering in Putrajaya. Also present is Tan.

PUTRAJAYA: The Primary Industries Ministry says Haziq Abdullah Abdul Aziz, who is embroiled in a sex video that has gone viral, has responded to the show-cause letter issued to him over the case.

Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Tan Yew Chong said Haziq responded to the show-cause letter and the letter was delivered to the office of Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin, whom Haziq is the senior private secretary to.

“He has responded to the letter and it was sent to the deputy minister.

I’m not sure when the letter was sent,” Tan told reporters at the ministry’s Hari Raya open house yesterday.

The large turnout of reporters and photographers was obviously because they wanted to seek updates from Shamsul Iskandar regarding the show-cause letter but he did not turn up at the event.

It is learnt that Shamsul Iskandar had left for Paris yesterday and would only be back in a week.

Minister Teresa Kok played host to guests which included staff, industry key players and representatives from agencies.

Tan declined to comment when asked who could make the decision to dismiss Haziq.

“We don’t want to comment on that. The deputy minister had said that he would decide on the matter in one or two days,” he said.

On June 13, Shamsul Iskandar said Haziq had been suspended from his duties with immediate effect and had also been issued with a show-cause letter, and failure to respond within three days could result in his dismissal.

News reports on Monday quoted Shamsul Iskandar as saying that his ministry would decide on Haziq’s fate within “one or two days” and the ministry was assessing his response to the show-cause letter.

Shamsul Iskandar said in the letter which Haziq responded on June 14, his aide had explained that he was depressed after the sex video went viral and needed more time before contacting the ministry.

Haziq had admitted that he was the other individual seen in the sex video, which had been making its rounds on social media and WhatsApp. He also claimed that the other person was Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali.

Azmin, in denying his involvement in the sex video, had said that people should not resort to cruel and filthy acts of political sabotage.