KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 — Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Khairuddin Aman Razali has defended his action of breaking the mandatory Covid-19 quarantine after returning from Turkey.

Malaysiakini reported the PAS minister denying any wrongdoing and rejecting the need for him to resign from the Cabinet, saying the issue only involved "an error” over the issue of the standard operating procedures.

"I did not do anything wrong in regard to my job, it only involved an error over the issue of the SOPs,” he was quoted saying.

"I have my own view, but I let the police [to investigate]. The Health Ministry had also issued a statement. For me, it’s solved, although I have my own view.”

The Kuala Nerus MP also confirmed the police recorded his statement as a witness in Bukit Aman yesterday at 8.45pm for two hours, insisting that the event was the first time his statement was recorded and not the second as reported by the media quoting the police.

Statements were also collected from his three family members, he said.

The minister said he told the police he was in Turkey on a "semi-official trip”.

"One reason was for a project negotiation involving Terengganu which had yet to be solved when I took over as minister and the rest was regarding palm oil.

"I have been satisfied from the get-go since I had apologised for the error and said I would return my salaries from the month of March to August to the people,” Khairuddin replied, when asked if he was satisfied with the course of the investigation.

He added it is now more important that he continue working on as usual, and that the issue did not affect work since he is human, and it is normal to make mistakes.

It is understood that Khairuddin met with several key figures in Turkey to negotiate the export of Malaysian palm oil to Greece and the Balkan countries.