Nazri: Govt paid FBC Media to repair image abroad

(The Star) – The Government engaged FBC Media (UK) to improve Malaysia’s image abroad which was damaged due to remarks made by the Opposition, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz.

He criticised Opposition leaders for making disparaging comments about the country internationally, which had damaged the country’s reputation.

“If they do not bad mouth the government by feeding lies to the international media, we do not have to pay any money to repair our image,” he told Datuk Mohamed Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) in Parliament.

Nazri said the use of FBC Media did not breach any local laws.

“We were informed that the company was now under investigation for conflict of interest by broadcasters for making editorial programmes without declaring that it had commercial interest with some programmes it had featured.

“This may be an offence of UK broadcasting and ethic guidelines but they did not commit any criminal offence during our engagement,” he told Dr Mohd Hatta Md Ramli PAS-Kuala Krai) during Question Time.

Nazri said that the government paid FBC Media 19.6mil Euros (RM83.304mil) for three years of services since 2007.

Nazri also revealed that the Government spent RM323,268.19 on a two-day trip to Turkmenistan by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Five memorandum of understanding (MoU) were signed to strengthen existing bilateral relations.