KUALA LUMPUR – Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said Yayasan Albukhary’s tax-exempt status had been cancelled during the tenure of former finance minister Lim Guan Eng because an appeal was made that was subsequently approved by Lim’s successor, Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
Muhyiddin said this in his statement of defence to a defamation suit filed by Lim, Malay Mail Online reported.
The news portal, which sighted the Perikatan Nasional chairman’s defence statement filed in court today, cited Muhyiddin’s statement that Yayasan Albukhary had been tax exempted during the Barisan Nasional administration.
However, Muhyiddin also claimed that this status was not honoured during the time of Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) administration, when Lim was finance minister.
After the PH government, the next prime minister Muhyiddin said he received a letter from Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary addressed to the Prime Minister’s Office, appealing against the IRB’s decision not to honour the tax exemption.
Muhyiddin also said he sighted a letter from the Finance Ministry to Syed Mokhtar “sometime in 2021” to info