KUALA LUMPUR: Four Anti-Corruption Agency officers visited the International Trade and Industry Ministry headquarters here on Thursday in an investigation believed to be linked to the Approved Permit (AP) issue.

Sources said the officers were at the ministry's 16-floor building on Jalan Duta at noon before going separately to different floors.

They were on the 2nd, 3rd, 11th, 15th and 16th floors for about five hours.

The sources said the officers interviewed several senior staff from various departments, including the AP department.

Among those they spoke to were the ministry's secretary-general Datuk Mohd Sidek Hassan, and deputy secretary-general Datuk Ooi Say Chuan.

ACA deputy director-general Datuk Mohd Zawawi Mohd Noordin, when contacted, said: "Any investigation carried out by us is confidential and I cannot make any comment or statement."

Federal Territory ACA director Chuah Chang Man denied any knowledge of his officers conducting investigations at the Miti headquarters.

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz has been on medical leave since Wednesday, as she is suffering from a swollen knee following an operation last year.

She did not attend the weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday, during which she was supposed to present a 25-page report to explain Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's allegations on the AP issue, before making it public through the media.

Last Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said the cabinet would ask Rafidah to provide an explanation on claims by the former prime minister that she had misled delegates to Umno's general assembly regarding the issuing of the APs.
A ministry statement issued on Thursday said Rafidah will return to work on Tuesday.

In Pekan, Najib said Rafidah will explain to the cabinet "whatever it needs to know" on the issue of APs at its meeting next week.

"I have been made to understand that next week she will attend and all clarifications sought by the cabinet will be discussed at the meeting," he told reporters after attending a briefing on the development of Pekan district.

Najib, who is the Pekan MP, said Rafidah had contacted him to inform of her absence from Wednesday's cabinet meeting because of health reasons.

The meeting, which was chaired, did not discuss the AP issue.

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