Guan Eng mulls legal action against anyone who questions his education credentials

KUALA LUMPUR: Lim Guan Eng is considering filing defamatory suits against anyone, including media outlets and politicians, if they continue to question the Finance Minister’s education credentials.

His political secretary, Tony Pua, who read out a press statement, said that the minister’s lawyers have advised that Lim reserve his rights to file defamatory claims against any newspapers that continue to print lies to diminish and question his position, stature and credibility.

Asked if he will consider taking legal action against MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong for attacking Lim over the matter, Pua said that is a possibility.

Pua declined to take further questions during the press conference, saying that Lim’s lawyers have advised him not to do so.

“I was instructed by the lawyers to Mr Lim not to take questions on this issue. Because this matter may go to court and they don’t want me saying the wrong things at a press conference,” he said during the press conference held at DAP’s headquarters on Monday (Feb 11).

“So I’ve been asked to stick to the statement, this is what we would like to highlight today (Feb 11),” he added.

Lim wasn’t present at the press conference, which was led by Pua and attended by Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng and Pandamaran assemblymen Leong Tuck Chee.

“This issue is frivolous, there is no need for him as the Finance Minister to answer to this,” Pua explained when quizzed by the media.

On Lim’s limguaneng.com website, it is stated in his biodata that he graduated from Monash University, Australia, with a Bachelor of Economics and was a qualified professional accountant by 1983.

Pua, in answering Dr Wee, said that Lim had graduated in 1983, adding that the Australian academic calendar ends in November annually.

Pua said that universities have their own conventions in naming their degrees, adding that “having a ‘Bachelor of Economics’ degree does not mean that Lim didn’t study accountancy”.

During the press conference, Pua also distributed copies of Lim’s certificate of membership with the Australian Society of Accountants, which said that Lim was admitted as a provisional member of the society on Feb 21, 1984.

The Australian Society of Accountants is now known as the CPA Australia (Certified Practising Accountant).  

To obtain a CPA license, aspiring individuals, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in accounting, requires a year of supervised experience under a CPA holder to take the CPA exam.  

In Malaysia, individuals aspiring to register as a chartered accountant under the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, requires no less than three years of approved working experience.