KUALA LUMPUR: Berjaya Corporation Bhd founder and advisor Tan Sri Dato' Seri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun and Berjaya Land Bhd have filed a defamation suit against Kedah caretaker Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor on Aug 8 at the Shah Alam High Court.
Tan and Berjaya Land claimed that Sanusi had made a defamatory speech during his election campaign on Aug 2.
The speech was broadcast live to the public and republished on multi social media channels including Astro Awani Youtube live video, Astro Awani Facebook live video, TV PAS Facebook live video and KiniTV Youtube video.
"This significant legal development comes as a result of the defendant's failure to meet the requirements in a letter served on the defendant on Aug 4 2023 demanding a public apology and compensation of RM200 million over his defamatory and untrue accusations
against the plaintiffs relating to the Selangor Maritime Gateway (SMG) project," Berjaya Land said in a statement today.
They also claimed that Sanusi's defamatory statements had depicted them as, among others, a corrupt person/company and that they were the cronies of the caretaker Selangor Menteri Besar.
They further claimed that he had accused them of having directly/indirectly received a 600-acre parcel of free land from the Selangor government and that they had directly/indirectly given benefits to the Selangor Menteri Besar in exchange for such free land.
They also claimed that Sanusi's speech alleged that they had benefitted from the Selangor government through cronyism and nepotism as well as causing the state and its people to suffer at least RM180 million in losses.
"Since the Kedah caretaker Menteri Besar has failed to meet our demands, Berjaya Land and I have taken the necessary legal steps by filing a lawsuit against him.
"This legal action seeks to address the grievances and seek appropriate remedies against the defendant for his defamatory words and actions," Tan said.
Berjaya Land noted that they had earlier lodged several police reports against Sanusi, bloggers Murray Hunter, Badrul Hisham Shaharin alias "Chegubard" and Raja Petra Kamarudin over the publication of similar defamatory and untrue remarks relating to the SMG project.