ISKANDAR PUTERI: Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi has reiterated that no casino will be built in Forest City here.
He also dismissed a news report claiming that a licence had been issued and a casino project was ongoing in Forest City as wildly defamatory.
“The claims are not true and do not make sense at all, other than malicious intentions to tarnish Forest City’s image and Johor as a whole.
“It is also seen as a repeat of efforts by certain quarters in 2018 against Forest City. I want to tell them, enough is enough.
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“With the Federal Government’s support, this is the time for us to rebuild Forest City to benefit the people,” he told the state assembly meeting at Kota Iskandar here on Monday (May 13).
Liow Cai Tung (PH-DAP) had asked about claims of the casino project as reported by a news portal.
Shortly after Onn Hafiz spoke on the matter, the meeting was interrupted by technical difficulties that forced the session to a temporary halt at around 9.35am.
It was learned that there were issues with the audio system. The live audiovisual feed in the media room was also affected.
The session resumed after about 20 minutes, with state Speaker Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi strictly telling the building management to ensure there would be no repeats of such incidents.
“It is embarrassing. I do not want excuses as we must stop the culture of making excuses. We must have a first-class mentality,” he said, adding that the management should also ensure that trespassers could not enter the premises.
Onn Hafiz, picking up where he left off, joked: “I was sabotaged because I was speaking about Forest City.”
On April 26, Berjaya Corp lodged a police report against an international news agency article alleging that business tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan was involved in discussions with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim regarding the opening of a casino in Forest City.
Following that, Anwar, Berjaya Corp and Genting Malaysia Bhd, which was also named, denied the report.
