International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz will be asked to state her views to the Cabinet regarding the allegations raised by former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad over the Approved Permits (AP) issue.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said Rafidah could use the weekly Cabinet meeting to give her views.

"The Cabinet is studying the matter because there was a statement made by Tun (Mahathir) and a reply by him.

"Surely the Cabinet would want to know the views of the minister of international trade and industry on the matter," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

Misled delegates

Mahathir, who is Proton adviser, on Tuesday claimed Rafidah did not give all the facts on the issue at the Umno general assembly last week and had thus misled the delegates.

He also said the AP system, which was originally introduced to increase the number of bumiputeras in the automotive industry, had instead benefitted only a few individuals.

In response, Rafidah released the list of AP recipients for 2004 on the instruction of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was then on an official visit to South Africa.

Rafidah, who accompanied the Prime Minister to South Africa, had earlier released the list of AP recipients for 2005.

Meanwhile, Najib said the Cabinet would continue to be transparent on the award of APs in line with the approach by the Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

"A transparent approach is best because there is nothing to hide from the public," he said.