The Home Ministry has denied that the The Heat weekly's suspension was due to its report on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's big spending.

A Wall Street Journal report today quoted a home ministry spokesperson as denying the link.

"This decision was not linked to The Heat 's recent story regarding the prime minister and any accusations to the contrary are without merit," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The spokesperson added that the suspension was due to "violating provisions mandated" under the publishing company's printing permit.

However, the report did not provide details.

The weekly in its Nov 23-29 edition carried a front-page story titled: 'All eyes on big-spending PM Najib' which highlighted his and wife Rosmah Mansor's overseas trips.

Last week, The Heat received a show-cause letter from the ministry, but did not name the exact article that was offensive.

The news weekly had up to Dec 24 to respond but was abruptly suspended indefinitely on Dec 19 before it could reply.