KUALA LUMPUR: Gerakan is planning to initiate contempt proceedings against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and seek exemplary damages over his latest claims against the previous Gerakan-led Penang state government.
Its secretary-general Liang Teck Meng said Lim’s latest statement was a repeat of the latter’s “false and defamatory” allegations against the party.
“The statement was made despite the defamation suit still pending before the court.
“As a senior politician and most of all the defendant in this case, Lim should have known better that his further comments on the matter may constitute subjudice, which falls under contempt of court,” said Liang in a statement today.
Liang also said Gerakan will seek a formal injunction to stop Lim and his associates from discussing the topic pending court proceedings.
Gerakan on July 25 filed a defamation suit against Lim and the case has been fixed for hearing on January 19 next year.
Lim is being sued for claiming that the previous state government sold reclaimed land in Tanjung Tokong (now called Sri Tanjung Pinang), with an area of 980 acres (396.6ha) valued at RM42.7 million, to developers for a minimal premium of RM1 per square foot.
“I want to reiterate that it was actually a concession agreement of land reclamation that was awarded in 1992, and there was no sale of land in Tanjung Pinang as claimed by Lim,” said Liang.
In a Facebook posting on Friday, Lim made a comparison between the land sales made by the BN-led state government from the 1990s until 2008, and those made by the Pakatan Harapan-led state government after 2008.
Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, had claimed that the previous state government sold 3,661 acres (1481.6ha) of land for RM1.0586, while the present state government sold 106.1 acres (43ha) of land for RM1.1102 billion.
“Gerakan has documentary evidence that the DAP-led state government, since 2008, sold and traded away at least 5,700 acres (2306.7ha) of state land, land rights and state assets worth approximately RM37 billion.” Liang claimed.