Badminton ace denied connection with the eatery, while the restaurant confirmed he was a director but resigned before the unhygienic incident.
- Workers not vaccinated against typhoid, did not attend food handling training
- Restaurant not registered with Health Ministry because premises failed to be pest-free
- Eatery lacks proper dishwashing facilities
- Malaysian Consumer Association wants restaurant’s premise licence permanently revoked
National shuttler Datuk Lee Chong Wei denied that he is a director of the Raj Banana Leaf restaurant in Bangsar that was shut down until further notice due to hygiene violations.
“No no no. Bukan saya (Not me),” he told The Star when contacted about this on Wednesday (May 30).
However, a company search with the Companies Commission of Malaysia revealed Lee as one of the three directors of InterCompass Sdn Bhd, which owns the restaurant.
The company’s records named a “Lee Chong Wei, Dato’” with the same birthdate as Lee as a director, while two individuals by the name of Muhamad Rizal Abd Rahman and Muhammad Hafisze Hamid were listed as both directors and shareholders.
They also showed that the company was incorporated in May 2012 and that Lee was appointed on September 14, 2016.
Later, the restaurant posted on its Facebook page, acknowledging that Lee Chong Wei had been a director on its board but resigned before the hygiene incident took place.
The eatery drew the ire of thousands of social media users after a 30-second video showed three of its staff members squatting at the back of the restaurant, scrubbing and rinsing plates in what appeared to be a puddle of water in a pothole next to a drain.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry has issued three food handling notices to the restaurant owner for not having the anti-typhoid vaccination for its workers and for not attending food handling training.
The notices were also issued as the restaurant was not registered with the ministry and because the premises failed to be pest-free, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said that the ministry had issued the 32B notices of the Food Act 1983 besides Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) shutting down the premises on Wednesday after the Food Safety and Quality division of the Ministry and DBKL investigated the restaurant.
It was learnt that the restaurant had an A-grade rating as it had previously passed cleanliness evaluations, but the outlet’s hygiene violation was due to its lack of proper dishwashing facilities.
The Malaysian Consumer Association (Maconas) has urged DBKL and the Federal Territories Health Department to permanently revoke the restaurant’s premise licence to send a strong message that such actions would not be tolerated.
Earlier report: May 29, Viral Video: Raj’s Banana Leaf’s Dishes Washed in Murky Water in Back Lane