The four-minister inquiry panel has deferred its decision concerning Barisan Nasional (BN) parliamentarian Mohd Said Yusof.

Panel head Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said the decision was 'deferred' until the police and Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) have completed their respective probes into the case.

Speaking to reporters this evening, he said the panel recorded Mohd Said's statement but decided to withhold its verdict in order not to affect the investigations.

Najib headed the panel in his capacity as BN chief whip. The other members were the ruling coalition's deputy chief whips - Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, Works Minister S Samy Vellu and Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy.

The meeting was held at the deputy premier's office in Putrajaya.

Looking distraught

The panel was formed to hear the explanation from Mohd Said, who found himself buried under logs of controversy last month.

The MP admitted that he had asked the Malacca Customs Department to 'close one eye' to a seized consignment of illegal timber. Mohd Said had defended his actions.

It was later revealed that his company had been involved in forwarding the abovementioned timber.

This morning, Mohd Said, accompanied by a dozen supporters, arrived at Najib's office about 30 minutes before the scheduled 11.30am meeting.

He came out of the office at about 1pm appearing rather distraught and refused to answer questions from journalists, except for one on whether he was satisfied with the proceedings, to which he replied: "Okay".

As for the panel members, only Chan responded and described the proceedings as a 'good meeting'. He said Najib would make a statement on this later.

Previously, Mohd Said had accused the Customs top brass of having an axe to grind against him.