KUALA LUMPUR: DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng has filed a defamation suit against Datuk Seri Azmin Ali for claiming the former was "arrogant" when he was the finance minister.
Lim filed the suit via Messrs. Simon Murali & Co. and named Azmin as the sole defendant at the Sungai Petani High Court in April this year.
The former Penang chief minister claimed that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) information chief had uttered the impugned statement when campaigning for the 15th general election on Nov 12, 2022.
Lim said the event, which was held at Lunas in Kedah, was described as a "dialogue session" between the defendant (Azmin) and members of the Chinese community.
The Bagan member of parliament claimed that Azmin had defamed him by stating that Lim's "langsi" (arrogant) style had scared the business community when he was finance minister.
The plaintiff (Lim) also claimed that Azmin had defamed him by stating that he (Lim) used the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) to chase down all companies linked to MCA and was responsible for new taxes on businesses, targeting particular Chinese businesses.
"The offending statements were targeted and directed at the plaintiff where specific reference was made to his alleged conduct during his tenure as finance minister.
"The offending statements disparaged the plaintiff in his profession, office and calling, and injured his credibility, character and reputation.
"The impugned statement also depicted the plaintiff to have abused his powers as the finance minister and exercised his authority in an oppressive, high-handed and dictatorial manner against the business community," Lim said in his statement of claim.
Lim claimed that the impugned statement had immensely injured his character, credibility, and reputation with the consequence of exposing him to humiliation, odium, ridicule, and public scandal.
The plaintiff is seeking general, aggravated, and exemplary damages from Azmin as well as a court order to compel the latter to tender an apology for the statements in the media.