Hotel Seri Malaysia Ipoh cancelled an event which was supposed to be attended by PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali because it feared a political event could tarnish its reputation, said the chairperson of the hotel chain's board of directors Aziz Sheikh Fadzir.

However, Aziz stressed the decision was made by the hotel's management without interference from the board.

"The Hotel Seri Malaysia Ipoh management decided on its own about the cancellation after finding out at the last minute that Azmin Ali would be attending and was worried that if the programme was a political ceramah, it would embroil the hotel in a controversy and tarnish its name.

"Therefore, on behalf on the Hotel Seri Malaysia network, I would like to express regret and apologise over the misunderstanding that happened between the Hotel Seri Malaysia Ipoh management and the organiser of the event," he told Malaysiakini.

Yesterday, Azmin complained that his closed-door meeting with Perak PKR at the hotel had to be relocated after the hotel management was "pressured" to cancel the reservation.

Aziz stressed the alleged interference was untrue.

"I would like to inform that the board of directors have never interfered in the day-to-day management of Hotel Seri Malaysia, including on bookings and other related matters.

"The incident also had nothing to do with political pressure from any quarters," said Aziz, who is also Kulim Bandar Baru MP.

The Umno lawmaker added that the hotel previously also did not have any problem taking bookings from PKR as long as their programmes did not violate the hotel's policies.

The Hotel Seri Malaysia network is owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated.