Guan Eng gives Muhyiddin one week to apologise before suing for defamation

KUALA LUMPUR – DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng has given Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin a week to apologise and provide compensation for issuing allegedly defamatory statements. 

In a legal letter to Muhyiddin dated today, Guok Partnership, the law firm representing Lim, said the former prime minister has seven days to come up with a full and unequivocal public retraction and apology regarding his claims that Lim had revoked the tax-exempt status of Albukhary Foundation during his tenure as finance minister.

“These charges amount to a very serious libel on our client (Lim) and have caused him considerable distress and embarrassment,” the letter said, according to images of the document shared by Lim on Facebook today. 

“The charges made by you (Muhyiddin) are politically motivated with a malicious intent to tarnish our client’s image as racist, anti-Malay and anti-Islam. 

“This letter is written in accordance with the pre-action protocol for defamation. If we do not receive a satisfactory reply within seven days from the date of this letter, our instructions are to file a writ of summons against you to seek appropriate remedies without further notice to you.” 

The letter also said that Muhyiddin’s failure to produce evidence backing his statement shows that the claims are “baseless, callous, unfounded vitriol and/or full of malice.” 

“...the defamatory statements were issued by you with an intention to deflect the public attention from the fact that you are facing multiple criminal charges for corruption, abuse of power and money-laundering offences,” it added. 

Yesterday, Lim had warned Muhyiddin that he will initiate legal action if the latter refuses to withdraw his accusations towards the Bagan MP.  

The decision to take legal action, Lim said, was to rebut the dangerous implications of Muhyiddin’s statement that can inflame and provoke unhappiness that a non-Muslim minister revoked the tax-exempt status of a Muslim charitable organisation.

Rasah MP Cha Kee Chin had also questioned why Muhyiddin had waited three years to shine light on Lim’s alleged decision, criticising the Perikatan Nasional chairman for revealing the information only after being charged in court.

Yayasan Albukhary’s taxation issues were disclosed after Muhyiddin was slapped with four charges of abuse of power involving RM232.5 million and two charges of receiving RM195 million in illicit funds.

On Monday, he was hit with an additional charge of money laundering involving RM5 million.

Following his arrest by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission last week, Muhyiddin had claimed that during Lim’s ministerial tenure under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in 2018, the latter had revoked the Albukhary Foundation’s tax-exemption status, which was approved during Barisan Nasional’s time in federal power.

Muhyiddin also said when he became prime minister after the fall of the PH administration, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary had appealed to him to lift the cancellation. – The Vibes, March 15, 2023