KUALA LUMPUR: Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said that he has no malicious intent, deception or hatred towards Berjaya Corporation Berhad founder and advisor, Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun or Berjaya Land Berhad.
Sanusi, in response to the lawsuit filed by Vincent Tan and Berjaya Land, stated that as a politician and community leader, he uses freedom of speech to raise governance and transparency issues based on substantiated facts.
The lawsuit was filed by Vincent Tan and Berjaya on Aug 8, regarding Sanusi's statements about the Selangor Maritime Gateway (SMG) project during his speech at the 'PN Mega Best' election campaign tour event in Dataran Darulaman, Jitra, Kedah on Aug 2.
In a defence statement filed on Sept 29, the Jeneri assemblyman denied that his statements at the event defamed Vincent and Berjaya, who are the first and second plaintiffs. Sanusi said that as a member of the opposition, he has a moral and social responsibility to expose governance and transparency issues in the administration of the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional coalition .
He stated that there was no direct or implied reference to Berjaya Land and he never accused Vincent of being a corrupt businessman.
"I have never stated that the first and second plaintiffs engaged in illegal activities or violated the law, deceived the people of Selangor or had a tendency to engage in dishonest practices and had a bad reputation.
"The plaintiffs also suffered no losses because the SMG project is still ongoing," he said.
In their lawsuit statement, Vincent claimed that Sanusi's live broadcast and republication of the speech made specific and direct references to him throughout the speech.
Berjaya Land, on the other hand, stated that although there were no specific references to the company, the statements could be understood as referring to the company.
According to Vincent, the defamatory statements implied that he and the company were corrupt and were cronies of Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, and had received 600 hectares of land for free.
The plaintiffs claimed that this also meant they provided direct or indirect benefits to the Selangor Menteri Besar and the state government in return for the free land.
Furthermore, they said it implied that they caused the Selangor government to incur losses and spend at least RM180 million as a result of the alleged free land.
The plaintiffs claimed that, with the company, they had a combined revenue of RM33.3 billion.
Vincent and Berjaya Land stated that the defamatory statement would damage and financially harm 67,367 shareholders in BCorp and 7,053 shareholders in Berjaya Land.
The plaintiffs said it could also harm their reputation in the business world, both domestically and internationally, potentially resulting in the loss of millions of ringgit in profits.
