KUALA LUMPUR – J&E Advance Tech Sdn Bhd, the importer of eggs from India into Malaysia, will sue Bersatu leader Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali if he fails to apologise for remarks that allegedly defamed the company and government.
A letter of demand to Azmin dated today said the remarks made in a Perikatan Nasional ceramah in Taman Melewar here on March 11 had implied that the company and government were corrupt over egg imports from India solely through J&E Advance Tech.
Azmin is accused of having said at the ceramah that the government had granted the egg import tender through direct negotiations – instead of open tender, which it professed to uphold – and that “Deepak, a friend of Rosmah’s” had been given the contract.
J&E Advance Tech contends that Azmin’s allegations are untrue, malicious, and “done in your (Azmin’s) pursuit of seeking cheap publicity/sensationalism for political and other purposes”, stated the letter issued by the firm Law Chambers of Han & Zi.
Azmin has seven days to publicly retract his remarks, publish an apology in news media of J&E Advance Tech’s choice, and give an undertaking not to repeat the allegations.
Failing this, legal proceedings against the former international trade and industry minister will commence.
J&E Advance Tech is also demanding RM20 million in damages for injury caused to its reputation, and payment of all legal costs incurred.
Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu, in a parliamentary written reply, had said the government had given approval to only one company to import eggs from India.
The move was a short-term “intervention” to address the country’s egg shortage, he said.
On March 8 when answering a supplementary question in the Dewan Rakyat, Mohamad revealed that the company’s name was J&E Advance Tech.
Besides Azmin, the company has also sent letters of demand to Ayer Hitam MP and MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong for statements made in Parliament over the quality and freshness of the eggs from India. – The Vibes, April 3, 2023
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