KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s first independent power producer (IPP) YTL Power International Bhd (YTL Power) filed a defamation suit at the high court here yesterday against The Vibes columnist and editorial consultant P. Gunasegaram.
The suit is over an article published by The Vibes on December 30, 2020, titled “Mukhriz’s crass hypocrisy ignores father’s role in rising corruption”.
The action, filed together with YTL Power subsidiary YTL Power Generation Sdn Bhd (YTLPG), which signed the power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), took issue with one paragraph in the article.
The paragraph states: “Dr Mahathir’s first term (1981 to 2003) was replete with other happenings that should be investigated, including major privatisation projects. Former Tenaga Nasional chairman Tan Sri Ani Arope told the story of how he was forced out of Tenaga Nasional Bhd when he refused to sign lopsided power purchase agreements that made billionaires of people such as the Yeoh family of YTL Power and later Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.”
The suit said the statements are intentionally defamatory/libellous and imply that:
1. The removal of Tan Sri Ani Arope as executive chairman of TNB was to facilitate the signing of the PPA between YTLPG and TNB.
2. The PPA was awarded to YTLPG by improper means or in a furtive manner.
3. The PPA contained elements of impropriety and odium in the circumstances surrounding its award.
The suit further added that the statement was “maliciously published, false and untrue statements to disparage the plaintiffs in the way of its reputation and/or goodwill, and further expose the plaintiffs to public odium, ridicule and scandal, and the plaintiffs have suffered damage as a result of the same”.
YTL Power and YTLPG said they are claiming damages from the writer for tarnishing their reputation and exposing them to public hatred, scorn and odium. They are also asking for an injunction to stop the statements from being repeated, and for an apology to be published by The Vibes.
YTLPG signed the PPA with TNB in 1993 following a power blackout earlier. Although the terms of the PPA were not fully disclosed, the first PPA agreement came for heavy criticism during the period as being very favourable to YTL.
Following the PPA with YTL, other groups also obtained PPAs with TNB, opening up power generation to other companies besides TNB. There was no evidence that open tenders were called for these early IPPs, which were negotiated behind closed doors. Also, the terms of the PPA were not disclosed, and these were classified as secret under the Official Secrets Act.
The controversial awards of early PPAs have attracted considerable public attention and comment, many of which said the awards were lopsided in favour of the IPPs and causing harm to the IPPs.
Gunasegaram’s lawyer, Datuk Seri Rajan Navaratnam of Sharizat Rashid & Lee, said he has filed his client’s appearance in court yesterday. According to Rajan, his client previously offered the plaintiffs a right to reply and publish their side of the story in The Vibes, but the offer was declined.
The Vibes managing editor Terence Fernandez said the news portal will support Gunasegaram in the suit, starting with the hiring of Rajan.
He added: “Gunasegaram informed us of (Tan Sri) Francis Yeoh’s (executive chairman of the YTL group of companies) request for a retraction of the article via WhatsApp and publishing an apology, but both Guna and us felt that the comments were fair and justified.”
The issue of PPAs has come up in discussions on TNB tariff rates. In 2011, then chief minister of Penang and current DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng called for the setting up of a royal commission of inquiry into IPPs and the PPAs.
Lim was echoing an earlier statement by Umno stalwart and former finance minister Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah that an RCI should be set up to review TNB’s contracts with 26 IPPs currently producing about 60% of TNB’s energy supply.
“The RCI would determine how severely the lopsided deals are burdening consumers with the rise in electricity tariffs, and introduce measures to either reduce or remove this huge financial burden on the people,” said Lim. – The Vibes May 26, 2021
