KUALA LUMPUR: Perikatan Nasional is mulling legal action over Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s remark that implied the coalition had used gambling money to fund its election campaign.
Perikatan chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the coalition would discuss with its lawyers on the next course of action on the statements made by Anwar as well as Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Asked if he would file a defamation lawsuit, Muhyiddin said they would first demand an apology.
“We will await their response (after the demand),” he told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex here yesterday.
In December last year, it was reported that Anwar had implied that Perikatan’s funds for its election campaign partly came from gambling, particularly 4D numbers.
On Thursday, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said in a parliamentary written reply that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission could not confirm claims Perikatan had used gambling proceeds in the last general election. Thus, she said no investigation papers were opened.
Muhyiddin, who was at the courthouse yesterday for a mention of his corruption cases at the Sessions Court, said Azalina’s statement in Parliament proved that there was no truth to Anwar’s claims.
