KUALA LUMPUR: Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has filed a defamation suit against Rafizi Ramli following the latter's refusal to apologise for his allegation that the Pas deputy president approved a project worth RM2 billion after Parliament was dissolved.
The caretaker Environment and Water Minister also said he resorted to the action to respond to the PKR deputy president's challenge for the suit to continue.
"The writ of summons and statement of claim is 73 pages thick and the court has accepted the writ of summons," Tuan Ibrahim said in a statement shared on his official Facebook page.
Rafizi had in a press conference earlier demanded an explanation from Tuan Ibrahim regarding the status of the Sungai Langat 2 flood mitigation project worth RM2 billion which is allegedly in the process of getting approval.
According to Rafizi, based on internal sources, the ministry was in the process of negotiating directly with a company, which could not be done by the interim government.
Tuan Ibrahim in a counter statement later stated that no approval could be given for any financial allocation during the interim government period.
He maintained that he had never approved any allocation for any project following dissolution, and no party had approached him to request the approval of the RM2 billion project.
Tuan Ibrahim further described Rafizi's allegations as malicious accusations with distortions of facts and fraud that were aimed at slandering and destroying his credibility ahead of tomorrow's polls.
"I hope that those who have been slandered by Rafizi will also follow in my footsteps," he said.
Tuan Ibrahim hoped that Rafizi would face the court process accordingly and not "just crow and shout defamation on social media and the ceramah stage".