Minister denies keeping gold coin

Minister denies keeping gold coin

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Following a report of a Standard Chartered Plc probe into missing gold coins, a Malaysian minister said Thursday he had returned a US$10,000 gold coin given to him by a representative of the bank.

Youth and Sports Minister Ghani Othman said the $10,000 gold coin was given to him as a sample three years ago by a representative of the bank's Hong Kong-based Mocatta bullion unit when he was deputy finance minister.

But he had returned the coin to Dr. Steven Goh, one of the members of the Mocatta unit, which had sent a delegation to meet him over the bank's proposal to set up a bonded warehouse for gold bullion in Malaysia.

He did not indicate clearly when the coin was returned, but an aide said Ghani returned it to Goh shortly after the meeting with the delegation.