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KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Tuesday he has no association with two local companies, Tradeyear Sdn Bhd and Mastek Sdn Bhd, said to have been involved in the United Nations' Oil-for-Food programme in Iraq.

The prime minister said the two companies had been named in the report of the UN Independent Inquiry Committee but the statement that the companies "were closely associated with me is not at all correct".

Abdullah said this perception arose because of his family links with Faek Ahmad Shareef, one of the owners of Mastek, because Faek had been married to his sister-in-law Noor Asiah Mahmood, the younger sister of his late wife Datin Seri Endon Mahmood.

He made this clarification in a written reply to Wee Choo Keong (PKR-Wangsa Maju) who had asked the prime minister to state whether he intended to set up a royal commission of inquiry into the findings of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the UN Oil-for-Food programme which claimed that the two companies were closely associated with Abdullah.

The prime minister said the matter had been clarified in the third paragraph on page 161 of the full report of the independent inquiry committee.

"The report states that the involvement of Faek Ahmad Shareef is based on the perception of the Iraqi government personnel who saw him as the individual who could help overcome the economic sanctions by strengthening the relationship between the Iraqi and Malaysian governments," he said.

Besides, he said, the Iraqi government also regarded Faek as having the capability to bring more Malaysian trade delegations to Iraq.

"Note 324 on pages 161 and 162 of the full report of the UN Independent Inquiry Committee states that the committee found no evidence that I received benefits or rewards in any form from the oil transactions allocated to Mastek.

"Note 324 also clarifies that my only connection with the Iraqi government at that time was a letter to introduce a Malaysian trade delegation to the Iraqi vice-president then, Taha Yassin Ramadan," he said.

Abdullah said that with the explanation of the UN Independent Inquiry Committee, there was no reason for the government to set up a royal commission of inquiry to look into the findings.

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