KUALA LUMPUR: DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng has cautioned the opposition against spreading lies for political mileage after winning his defamation suit against Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
"The judgment read in court clearly stated that what Muhyiddin said about me was false and baseless," he told reporters outside the High Court here.
"He made a statement accusing me, as the (then) finance minister, of revoking the tax exemption granted to Yayasan Al-Bukahry.
"This did not happen at all. I asked him to provide evidence, and he failed to do so. He continued to repeat these baseless and false accusations against me."
Lim said the revocation of Yayasan Al-Bukahry's tax exemption status happened under Muhyiddin's tenure as prime minister.
"It had nothing to do with me," he said.
Lim, who served as finance minister from May 2018 to February 2020, said Muhyiddin's claim was extremely harmful in a multicultural society.
Earlier, the High Court awarded Lim RM1.35 million in damages in his defamation suit against Muhyiddin, the Perikatan Nasional chairman.
High Court Judicial Commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain, in her ruling, said the former prime minister's conduct was unwarranted as he had resources to verify and confirm the facts of the matter.
She also said Muhyiddin deliberately infused his statements with religious and racial overtones, repeatedly highlighting Yayasan Al-Bukhary's role in Islamic charitable work.
On March 27 last year, Lim filed a suit claiming that Muhyiddin defamed him on the matter.
Previously, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said finance ministry records showed that Lim never revoked the foundation's tax-exempt status.