
An aide to former health minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa claims that the latter turned down an offer of RM50 million by unnamed individuals to scrap the tobacco generational end game (GEG) policy.
G Sivamalar said these individuals attempted to bribe Zaliha prior to the tabling of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill in Parliament in November 2023.
Sivamalar said Zaliha did not lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) or the police at that time as they “didn’t want to waste time”, CodeBlue reported.
“We were just focusing on what we were supposed to do,” she was quoted as saying.
However, Sivamalar could not recall the details of those who had attempted to bribe Zaliha.
“So many people (contacted us) through brokers. Random calls. We rejected outright even before talking about it. Zaliha refused to even meet anyone regarding…