Citing a letter, which was published in malaysiakini , Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz today warned all quarters to double-check their facts before accusing the prime minister of practicing nepotism.

Speaking at the Dewan Rakyat, he said this was all the more necessary when the accusations were politically motivated and aimed to confuse the people.

"The prime minister (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) is an individual who holds to the principles of high integrity.

"He regards seriously the claim that he had lied to the Malaysian people when speaking about his son (Kamaluddin) and (his oil and gas company) Scomi Bhd," Nazri added during his winding-up speech on the Budget 2007 debates.

It is because of this principle that the premier is willing to apologise if he had said anything incorrect about the issue, he stressed

Abdullah, who is also finance minister, said in an Aug 7 interview on private television station TV3 that Kamaluddin had never abused his position to gain advantage in business dealings.

Relevant facts

Meanwhile, Nazri also made a direct reference to the letter by one Sulaiman Rejab, which was published in malaysiakini on Aug 15.

Sulaiman had written an open letter to the prime minister asking him to explain news reports about government projects which had been awarded to Scomi.

"The premier wishes that all quarters study what he had said during the TV3 interview which was mentioned by Sulaiman Rejab (in his letter) and take the initiative to scrutinise the relevant facts, such as the experience and business dealings of Scomi Bhd and its subsidiaries, before making accusations," said Nazri.

On Sept 2, Abdullah said he would apologise if he had provided any inaccurate information pertaining to Scomi during the interview.

The premier also said he had asked Scomi to submit a report of its business activities, especially those concerning relating to government projects.

Abdullah was responding to a "letter he had received" accusing him of "lying" about Scomi.

Last Friday, Scomi denied receiving government projects through the influence of Kamaluddin.

It's chief executive Shah Hakim Zain said the company competed in open tenders for all its projects and did not win all of them.