President Jacob Zuma denied on Friday a newspaper report that he was delaying implementation of the Companies Amendment Bill.

"The parliamentary process in regard to the adoption of the Companies Amendment Bill was finalised on 24 March 2011, following a rigorous and inclusive consultative process that resulted in the incorporation of recommendations from stakeholders," his spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said in a statement.

"The bill then went back to the department of trade and industry (DTI) for legal and technical refinement before sending to the presidency.

"President Jacob Zuma has not yet received the Companies Amendment Bill for processing."

Business Day newspaper reported that the bill had not been signed into law because Zuma still had to "apply his mind" to it.

The daily quoted DTI spokesperson Clement Manoka as saying: "The Companies Amendment Bill is currently going through the necessary approval processes for the president's assent.

"The department is of the view that the presidency must be allowed to apply its mind sufficiently in processing the Companies Amendment Bill before signing it into law. The department will continuously advise stakeholders of progress in this regard."

Kodwa said Business Day was told the president had not yet received the bill.

"The newspaper chose not to publish this information and instead ran an unbalanced story that portrays the President as being negligent and in dereliction of his duty, thereby causing an unnecessary delay in the processing of the law.

"We have asked the newspaper to publish a correction and an apology in this regard. We are also approaching the Press Ombudsman for redress," said Kodwa.