Zuraida’s office received letter of demand on Jan 20 - Saifuddin

• UPDATED 4.22PM | Added Zuraida's political secretary Noor Hizwan Ahmad's response to the minister's office allegedly accepting the letter.

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution today insisted his letter of demand to party vice-president Zuraida Kamaruddin over alleged defamation was received by the latter's office over a week ago.

He said the letter was delivered to Zuraida’s ministry’s office in Putrajaya. Zuraida is the housing and local government minister.

“It was sent to her office at KPKT (Ministry of Housing and Local Government) and the (acknowledgement) stamp (of receipt) I received was on Jan 20,” he said to Malaysiakini.

This came after Zuraida, the Ampang MP, said she had yet to receive any such letter.

Saifuddin, who is also domestic trade and consumer affairs minister, announced yesterday that he had issued the letter, in his personal capacity, over Zuraida's allegedly defamatory remarks against him.

According to Saifuddin (above) today, the letter pertains to allegations concerning the Kelantan government and Tabung Amanah Tok Kenali.

The Kulim-Bandar Baharu lawmaker had previously claimed the late PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat had at one time appointed him to head the state government-linked company from 2004 to 2007.

Zuraida's political secretary Noor Hizwan Ahmad was however adamant that the minister has yet to receive any letter from Saifuddin.

"The minister is (often) not in the office, she goes out to work on the ground, so I will have to check with the office.

"If we received it then we will take further action after we have seen the contention of the letter (of demand) itself," he said when met by reporters at PKR headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, after submitting Zuraida's response to a separate show-cause letter issued by the party's disciplinary board.

The letter of demand to Zuraida came after she was served a show-cause letter over remarks against PKR president Anwar Ibrahim at a dinner last December.

Zuraida was among the leaders aligned to PKR deputy president Azmin Ali who spoke during a gathering on Dec 8, at the height of a perceived rift within the party, marked by a walkout from the final day of PKR's annual congress.

Since then, Anwar has made various public overtures to reconcile with Azmin, who, together with Zuraida, attended the party's political bureau meeting on Jan 9 after over a year of absence.

Additional reporting by Alyaa Alhadjri