PETALING JAYA, Oct 23 — Former economy minister Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli has instructed his lawyers to begin defamation proceedings against Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri R. Ramanan over corruption allegations the latter made against him yesterday.
In a statement today, Rafizi said he had handed the video and transcript of Ramanan’s press conference to his legal team.
“They believe there are strong grounds to bring a lawsuit against R. Ramanan, as his statements at the press conference crossed the boundaries set by the country’s defamation laws,” he said.
Rafizi said Ramanan, who is also PKR vice-president, had made various allegations against him at the press conference, including accusing him of involvement in corruption.
Rafizi had previously named Ramanan as the PKR MP who allegedly accepted a RM9.5 million bribe to settle a case involving what he described as the “corporate mafia”.
He said yesterday’s press conference confirmed that Ramanan had never filed a lawsuit over that claim, and that the minister had reiterated he would not do so, despite earlier threatening to sue anyone who implicated him.
“If R. Ramanan refuses to sue me, his press conference yesterday has now opened the way for me to take him to court over the allegations he made against me,” Rafizi said.
He added that the legal action was also appropriate as Ramanan continued to evade several corruption allegations concerning him.
Rafizi also said Ramanan’s press conference showed that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s statement in Parliament this week, which claimed Ramanan had initiated court proceedings, was untrue.
He said he would leave it to MPs to take the next step of referring Anwar to Parliament’s Rights and Privileges Committee.
