KUALA LUMPUR: MCA has sent a legal notice to DAP Keranji assemblyman Chong Zhemin calling on him to publicly apologise, or face court action over his allegations that MCA had misappropriated RM150mil for a hospital project in Kampar, Perak.
The letter was sent to Chong' office in Kampar on Wednesday (Jan 8), said MCA publicity deputy chairperson Chong Yew Chuan (pic).
"As consequences of his wild allegations, YB Chong Zhemin is required to publish within seven days in his website or any other medium in which he had published the allegations and the newspapers, a full withdrawal and apology subject to MCA's approval," Yew Chuan said at a press conference at Wisma MCA on Friday (Jan 10).
Besides also giving an undertaking not to repeat the allegations, Yew Chuan said that MCA is seeking damages from Zhemin for tarnishing the party's reputation.
The party, he added, took legal action against Zhemin after he failed to retract and apologise for his allegations despite repeated calls by MCA to do so.
"We had also urged him to lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate this but he refused," he said.
Yew Chuan added the Health Ministry had since come forward to debunk Zhemin's allegations against MCA.
Last Friday (Jan 3), Zhemin made the allegations in his blog though an article "MCA hijack RM150mil allocation by cancelling Kampar government hospital to build UTAR private hospital".
On Jan 4, Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon, who was the former Perak exco in charge of health in 2017, demanded Zhemin resign his post as assemblyman if he refused to apologise and unable to back up his allegations with strong evidence.
On Tuesday (Jan 7), the Health Ministry issued a statement debunking Zhemin's claims that MCA had misappropriated RM150mil intended for a hospital in Kampar.
The Health Ministry said the RM150mil announced by the then Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai in 2012 was never disbursed, and was still with the Finance Ministry after the Kampar government hospital project was cancelled in 2016, owing to unsuitability of the land to build the hospital.
The ministry also confirmed the project has since been revived under Budget 2020.
However, ownership of the land in Kampung Changkat Baru for the hospital project has yet resolved and transferred to the Federal Government for the purpose.
Zhemin has maintained that MCA hijacked the government's plan to build a government hospital in order to build a private hospital.
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