KOTA KINABALU: Tambunan assemblyman Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan has filed a public apology with regards to an unintentional misleading statement he made during the state assembly meeting in December last year.
During that meeting, he had said that the paid-up capital for Hoch Standard Pte Ltd - a Singapore-based company to oversee the controversial Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA) deal - was USD$10mil (RM44.51mil).
However, Sri Tanjong and Elopura assemblymen Justin Wong and Calvin Chong had filed a complaint to the state legislative assembly Speaker that this statement was confusing and had urged for Jeffrey to be brought before the Rights and Privileges Committee.
Speaker Datuk Kadzim Yahya said when the complaint was filed on March 3, this year, there was no ongoing sitting.
"So, we got Tambunan assemblyman Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan to respond and explain," he said at the state assembly sitting here, Monday (July 18).
Jeffrey was also asked to produce proof and supporting documents with regard to the statement mentioned.
Jeffrey on April 27 responded that after going through his documents on Hoch Standard Pte Ltd, he found out that the USD$10mil was actually the company’s total investment value, and not its paid-up capital.
The NCA and Hoch Standard has been an ongoing issue in Sabah, with many seeing it as a con-job.
This NCA, which would first see some 600,000ha of Sabah's totally protected areas used to market carbon and other natural capital by the Singapore-based private company, was set to be in force for the next 100 years, if approved.
Among the details of the apology given to the state Speaker were as follows:-
"State Speaker, first and foremost I would like to thank you for allowing me to make a public apology. During the sitting Dec 8, when it was my turn to wind up my speech, I had unintentionally and without intent said that the paid-up capital was USD$10mil."
He said he had mentioned this as the issue was brought up several times in the sitting at that time.
He said that when he was giving out that information, he believed it was accurate and true and that he thought that his interpretation of the information provided was correct.
It was later going through the documents again after he was asked to provide supporting documents to the state Speaker that he realised it was misunderstood.
For this, Jeffrey said he was sorry and applied for the previous statement recorded in the state assembly hansard to be amended.
Kadzim had earlier explained that before a person can be brought before the Assembly Rights and Privileges Committee, three elements had to be fulfilled.
"The statement mentioned must be misleading or confusing to the assembly, that the person making the statement must know that the statement is incorrect when making the statement, and that he meant to confuse or mislead the assembly when making the statement," he said.
He said after going through the response and evidence provided, it was decided that Jeffrey did not intend to mislead the assembly when making that statement at that sitting.
Kadzim said although the statement was not made intentionally to mislead the assembly, this case cannot act as a precedent for future case complaints or decisions.
On a suggestion by Tungku assemblyman Assaffal Alian to have Jeffrey read his apology letter himself as he was also present, the Speaker said he had received, read and understood the apology letter and that he himself had accepted the apology.
