KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here was told today that Yayasan Al-Bukhary's tax exemption was cancelled while Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was prime minister.
Lawyer Guok Ngek Seong, representing former finance minister Lim Guan Eng in his defamation suit against Muhyiddin, stated that a letter dated Feb 5, 2021, issued and signed by the foundation's chairman, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, showed this.
Guok made this assertion in his opening statement in court. Lim is suing Muhyiddin over three allegedly defamatory statements on Facebook on March 9 11, and 12 last year, regarding the cancellation of the foundation's tax exemption.
Guok said the letter clearly stated that the tax exemption had been cancelled "recently".
"It can only mean that the cancellation indeed occurred while the defendant (Muhyiddin) was prime minister.
"The letter from Syed Mokhtar does not state that the plaintiff Lim or the Pakatan Harapan government were responsible for the cancellation," Guok said.
Lim was finance minister from May 2018 to February 2020, when the PH government collapsed due to several MPs withdrawing their support. Muhyiddin became prime minister on March 1, 2020, when the king determined that he had majority support, but stepped down on Aug 16, 2021.
"In any case, documents to be presented in court will also show that there is no evidence or document that can prove the plaintiff caused the tax exemption granted to Yayasan Al-Bukhary to be cancelled," he said.
Guok also said that on March 21 last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had also made a statement in Parliament, which exposed some of the defamatory statements made by the defendant.
He said Anwar had also informed Parliament that he never cancelled the tax exemption granted to Yayasan Al-Bukhary.
Guok added the evidence to be presented in court would show that the defendant's defence is full of lies, baseless, unsupported, and is a false defence.
"The defendant knew the contents of the letter issued by Syed Mokhtar to him, and the only explanation for why he continued to make blatantly defamatory statements attacking the plaintiff was for political survival.
"This was important for the defendant because he was then facing the possibility of being charged in court," he added.
On March 27 last year, Lim filed a suit against Muhyiddin, accusing him of making three defamatory statements, which were subsequently reported by several newspapers and news portals.
Lim claimed that the defamatory statements implied that he abused his position and power by authorising or directing the Inland Revenue Board to impose taxes and penalties on the charitable foundation when it should not have been taxed.
Proceedings before judicial commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain will continue this afternoon.