KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysiakini reporter Wong Choon Mei, who wrote an article detailing the contents of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's "manifesto" that was later found to be untrue, resigned yesterday.

Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan said Wong's resignation took immediate effect.

"She admitted her mistake and resigned to take responsibility for the error."

Gan said that it was a serious misjudgment on Wong's part and he accepted her resignation.

"We regret the incident and the report should not have been published," Gan was quoted in a report published yesterday in Malaysiakini.

Wong, who joined Malaysiakini three months ago, has been a journalist for 10 years with stints at The Edge, Reuters and Channel News Asia.

The report quoted Gan as saying that Wong conceded that she had not verified the contents of the "manifesto" with Najib's office. She had received it by email on Sunday.

The report was uploaded late that night without going through the standard double-checking by a second editor. Wong was the editor on duty for that day

Despite Wong's resignation and Malaysiakini's apologies, trouble may still be brewing for the news portal.

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission had started investigations on the news portal, under sections 211 and 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Commission Act.

He said this followed a report lodged to the commission on the matter. However, he declined to reveal the origin of the report.