KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 — DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng today said he is starting legal action against Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali for defamation over the caretaker minister’s remarks about sabotage in the government’s Bumiputera agency Ekuiti Nasional Berhad (Ekuinas).
The Bagan defender added that he is also considering filing defamation proceedings against former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for similar reasons.
“Azmin had further defamed me for trying to sabotage Bumiputera agencies such as Ekuinas. Up to now he has failed to show proof to back up his wild claims.
“Since he continues to repeat these false facts without showing any proof, I have no choice but to instruct my lawyers to take action immediately,” Lim said in a statement.
As for Muhyiddin, Lim said he will decide what to do after polling day this Saturday as he needs to consult his lawyers first.
Lim claimed Azmin had defamed him on the 15th general election campaign trail.
He said Azmin’s reported remarks while stumping for Perikatan Nasional (PN) — the coalition the former PKR deputy president is with now — by saying Lim was responsible for new taxes that targeted the Chinese business community, and using the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) to target companies linked to MCA.
Azmin’s remarks were reported by The New Straits Times last Sunday.
“They (DAP) made all kinds of promises but they didn't deliver. Lim Guan Eng used the IRB to chase down all companies linked to MCA,” he was quoted as telling the ethnic Chinese in Lunas, Kedah during a dialogue session.
Lim denied having anything to do with the new business taxes and claimed they were introduced by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government under Umno’s Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
He said he reduced the taxes on small and medium enterprises when he was the finance minister in the PH federal government.
Last Monday, Muhyiddin claimed in a Facebook post that Lim had tried to sabotage the Bumiputera agenda by not allocating anything to the Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju) during negotiation sessions of Budget 2020.
“Lim’s actions affected 200 Bumiputera companies and 10,000 new employment opportunities were unable to be created,” Muhyiddin, who is also PN chairman, said.
The Pagoh defender also claimed that Lim had written a letter to then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to shut down Ekuinas and have its revolving fund of RM2.4 billion returned to the Ministry of Finance.
Muhyiddin added that it was Azmin, who was then minister of economic affairs at the time, that protected Ekuinas by stopping the outflow of its funds.
