GEORGE TOWN: A PAS leader has been given 24 hours to apologise for defamatory comments made against Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng or face legal action.
Lim said he was shocked by the unprovoked attack launched by PAS Syura Council member Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi with regard Penang state government finances and the award of the Penang Tunnel project.
“Nasrudin questioned why I was not criticised within Pakatan Rakyat like Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim over Kidex (Kinrara-Damansara Expressway) when I had also used direct negotiations to award the RM4.63bil under-seabed tunnel project to Construction Zenith BUCG Bhd.
“Let me state here that I had never made any public comments over Kidex or its direct negotiation award.
“I have no interest in playing along with Nasrudin’s political games of supporting Kidex but am making this rebuttal because of the lies by a fellow Pakatan MP that have severely tarnished my reputation and my state government’s standing,” Lim told a press conference at his office in Komtar on Thursday.
Lim claimed that Nasrudin was lying as the under-seabed tunnel project was awarded via open tender and cost RM3.6bil, not through direct negotiation costing RM4.63bil.
He added that the Penang state government under Pakatan Rakyat had never recorded a single year of budget deficit.
Nasrudin had said that the tunnel project was given the green light despite Penang’s RM255.4mil budget deficit.
“I will be left with no choice but to treat him like a Barisan opponent, by instructing my lawyers to take legal action for defamation against Nasrudin for spreading blatant slander and lies against me and the Penang state government,” Lim said.
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