Minister denies 'fake degree' claim by Opposition MPs

Richard told a press conference this afternoon that he has also spoken to his lawyers to possibly initiate a defamation suit on the matter.

Earlier this morning, Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari, MP for Stampin Julian Tan, and Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming alleged that Riot had questionable undergraduate and master degrees.

They claimed that an official website listed Riot as having a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Chartered Insitute of Business Administration (Ireland) and a Masters in Business Administration from Preston University in USA.

"Not only could we not find any website belonging to the Chartered Insitute of Business Administration (Ireland), Preston is a well-known bogus university reported by numerous newspapers," Ong had said.

Riot said that he had some ministerial duties today but had came to Parliament after hearing about the allegations as he "felt duty bound to explain."

"I strongly rebute this...press statement...what is contained here... the content. Because it is done outside of Parliament house I will let my lawyers handle this. This is defamatory," he said.

"I have to tell you. My first degree was from University of Hertfordshire in London. I am in Human Resources, " he said, adding that he has a masters in Human Resources as well.

He added that thr prime minister would have checked a person's background before appointing one a minister.

The three Pakatan MPs also questioned the qualification of Dr Ewon Ebin, the new Minister for Science, Technology an Innovation (MoSTI), whom they alleged had a fake masters degree and doctorate.