PUTRAJAYA, March 18 (Bernama) -- The Home Ministry is satisfied with the explanation given by the China Press and will not take action against the newspaper for its report on the purported resignation of the Inspector-General of Police.

The newspaper was also prepared to apologise to Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, Home Ministry Deputy Secretary-General Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ab Aziz said today.

Ahmad Fuad said it would be up to China Press to take internal action on the publication of the report, of which content had been denied by Hishammuddin and IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan.

"The ministry leaves it to the discretion of China Press management on the type of disciplinary action to be taken against its chief editor," he told a news conference here today.

In its exclusive report on March 13, the Chinese newspaper reported that the IGP had tendered his resignation letter to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Hishammuddin.

On the same day, the ministry issued a show-cause letter to China Press, instructing it to provide explanation within seven days.

Ahmad Fuad said the ministry received the letter on Tuesday which acknowledged that its chief editor had published the report without verifying its facts.

"China Press is also prepared to take action against its chief editor for the mistake in publishing the report which affected the company's credibility and the government's integrity," he said.

Asked when the apology would be made, Ahmad Fuad said it would be done in the near future.

Ahmad Fuad, who hoped that there would be no recurrence of such incident, said the episode served as a lesson to all media organisations to be careful and avoid publishing baseless reports.