“In all our communication with the winners, we emphasised in writing that no fees are charged for our awards to be presented as APTTF Awards are never for sale, or negotiated with any kind of stipend. It was used to cover our event costs at the venue,” he said, maintaining that winners were picked based on public voting online. Responding to an exclusive report in The Star on Thursday on its vanity awards, Adeva said the entry fee of RM575 was charged for individual entry to attend the awards ceremony on April 11. The participants said they were convinced of the legitimacy of the event as Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Airlines were said to have endorsed it, but both bodies later denied being affiliated to APTTF. Adeva said Tourism Malaysia and Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi only informed them of their inability to attend on the eve of the event.

Source: The Star May 17, 2019 00:45 UTC