Credit information provider Ctos Sdn Bhd has served Deputy Minister M Kayveas with a legal letter demanding that he stops making allegations against the company.

When contacted, Kayveas confirmed receipt of the letter which stated among others that he was to pay an unspecified amount over damages he has caused to the company.

"I consider it as a joke. Under section 186 of the Penal Code, we consider this (letter) as a threat and an obstruction of a government officer in performing his duty. We have lodged a police report on the matter yesterday.

"I'm not sure if they understand what is defamation. I'm talking about a company, not a person," he said.

Over the past week, Kayveas had repeatedly alleged that Ctos was buying and selling private information of some 780,000 individuals illegally.

Kayveas alleged that unlike the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) which is sanctioned by Bank Negara, Ctos was not limited to credit information of an individual but also reveals the summons and writs a person had received.

Ctos chief executive officer Chung Tze Keong on Thursday had denied any wrongdoing by his company.

Chung said that all information within Ctos' systems were available in the public domain and does not act as a financial blacklisting company.

He added that the Ctos' services provided "first information" for business to assess their prospective and existing customers' "capacity and risk tolerance levels".

Kayveas used our services

In a statement yesterday, Ctos chief executive officer Chung Tze Keong said Kayveas' comments had been "most unfair and unfounded attacks upon the business and reputation of Ctos".

Given the circumstances, Chung said that Ctos had "no choice" but to reveal that Kayveas' former law firm Messr, Blanche, Kayveas & Co had since 1999 been a subscriber of the company's services.

In addition, Chung also furnished two cheques which was stamped by Kayveas' service centre in Taiping, where he is MP, and the People's Progressive Party of Malaysia, which he helms.

Speaking to malaysiakini today, Kayveas said he was unaware that his party and his Taiping service centre were using the services and suggested that they may had done so on their own accord.

However, he admitted that the law firm which he left in 2001 and now helmed by his wife Blanche O'leary, had used Ctos' services but claimed that the circumstances now had changed.

"We used the service back then in good faith. It was for the purpose of our office to conduct checks while preparing legal documents. Today it's a different situation. Today they turned into a centre destroying people's life and career," he said.

Ah Longs using Ctos

Kayveas said he had received more than 400 emails from the public detailing their plight allegedly caused by Ctos since launching www.insolvency.gov.my on Thursday.

In one instance, Kayveas said one complainant had detailed how a city council in Selangor had threatened to include the complainant's name into Ctos' "blacklist" should he fail to settle a summons ( see image below ).

Citing another email, Kayveas said even the Ah Long (loan sharks) were using Ctos' services to size up credit worthiness of their clients.

The Law Division under the Prime Minister's Department is expected to visit Ctos' office on July 10 together with other relevant authorities.

"We want to know where they got the authority to sell 'people's problems'. Where did you get that right from? Who gives you that right? Under what law are you operating?" asked Kayveas.