GOMBAK, Aug 8 — Caretaker Selangor menteri besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari today claimed Perikatan Nasional (PN) is using the Selangor Maritime Gateway (SMG) project against him to deflect criticism against his Kedah counterpart Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor who is also seeking re-election this Saturday.
The PKR politician claimed the PN was making defamatory remarks against him to divert public attention away from the rare earth elements (REE) controversy surrounding Sanusi.
“All these attacks were made during the final week, issues regarding the Selangor Maritime Gateway project have been answered by my exco Izham Hashim twice in the state assembly and I have answered in Parliament for about an hour. You are criticising the credibility of the government servants.
“They recycled this for their political score but unfortunately, it had been turned into slander. Why did this happen? Because the REE case in Kedah pressured them and they couldn't answer it, they diverted the attention by recycling issues relating to me,” Amirudin said in a press conference here.
He reiterated that he will proceed with legal action and added that the legal documents will be sent to Sanusi this Thursday.
"It will only be sent to Sanusi. The others that play up the same thing, I pity them because they have been used to achieve cheap politics by selling the name of Islam and race," he said.
Sanusi reportedly claimed on August 2 that Tan Sri Vincent Tan, who owns Berjaya Corporation Berhad (BCorp) was about to secure a major stake in a Selangor-owned company, further alleging that the matter was a scandal due to "explode” soon and Amirudin wholly rejected the claim two days after.
The statement included seven excerpts plucked from a speech Sanusi had made at the event called "Jelajah Mega PN Best”/”PN BEST Sayangi Kedah Sejahtera mega tour”, alleging that Tan was Amirudin's "tauke” or boss.
Yesterday, Tan and Berjaya Land Berhad (Berjaya Land) demanded a public apology and RM200 million in compensation for defamation from Sanusi.
Lawyers representing Tan and Berjaya Land served a letter of demand to Sanusi on August 5 with five demands for the PN election director.
The demands to Sanusi include: removing and retracting all defamatory statements referring to Tan and Berjaya Land, a public apology to be published on any platform determined by the lawyers, the provision of a written undertaking by Sanusi to affirm that he will not repeat or publish such statements any further, another written undertaking that Sanusi will cease and desist from sharing any such statements in any manner, and an agreement to pay compensation of RM200 million to Tan and Berjaya Land.
Failure to comply with the demands by the end of the business day tomorrow will lead to legal action, the statement warned.
Besides that, Tan and Berjaya Land have lodged police reports against Sanusi and bloggers such as Murray Hunter, activist Badrul Hisham Shaharin (also known as Chegubard) and fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin regarding similar statements made on the SMG Project under Section 499 of the Penal Code, which governs criminal defamation.
