‘Casino licence issue a lie’

PM: No such approval being given to Forest City project

PUTRAJAYA: There are no plans to issue the country’s second casino licence to Forest City in Johor, insists Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The Prime Minister said reports claiming that the government was mulling over the plans were untrue.

“Those who raised the issue of a casino licence lied. It is not true. That’s a lie,” he said in a curt reply when approached by reporters on the subject at the Communications and Housing and Local Government Ministries joint Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house.

According to a news report, Berjaya founder Tan Sri Vincent Tan and Genting Group’s Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay were in early discussions with the government on opening a casino in Forest City, Johor.

The report claimed that Anwar had met Tan and Lim last week.

The report, quoting sources, said the casino project would revive the US$100bil (RM478.35bil) Forest City project.

As gambling is a highly regulated sector, casino licences will have to be renewed on a quarterly basis at the discretion of the Finance Minister.

Genting Group holds the only casino licence in Malaysia. The group has held the licence since 1969 and operates the country’s only casino in Genting Highlands.

The Forest City project started in 2015 and has 28,000 completed residential units to date, with the first man-made island, measuring 560ha, serving as the development’s major focus.