KUALA LUMPUR: Berjaya Group founder and adviser Tan Sri Vincent Tan and Berjaya Land Bhd has filed a suit in the Shah Alam High Court against UK-based blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin for reposting a defamatory speech on his X and YouTube accounts regarding the Selangor Maritime Gateway (SMG) project.
The speech was originally made by Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor during his election campaign on Aug 2 last year. The politician is also facing a defamatory suit by Tan and Berjaya Land.
In the latest suit against Raja Petra, one of Tan’s lawyers from Messrs Pierre Chuah & Associates, Lew Wei Shing, said it was filed on Oct 11 last year in the same court.
“But since service to the defendant’s last known address was unsuccessful, we successfully applied for substitute service by placing newspaper advertisements late last month, whereby the defendant has to appear in court within 14 days of the advertisement publication, failing (which), we will seek that judgment be entered.”
Based on the statement of claim, Tan and Berjaya Land claimed the reposted speech in Raja Petra’s X and YouTube accounts implied the plaintiffs were engaged in corrupt business and were cronies of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shaari.
They claimed Raja Petra’s reposting of the defamatory statements also meant the plaintiffs had benefitted directly or indirectly from the project, or received a free piece of land measuring 600 acres from the Selangor government and/or Amirudin for the plaintiffs’ business ventures.
Tan and Berjaya Land claimed the reposting also suggested the Selangor menteri besar or the state government received benefits in exchange for the free land and caused Selangor to lose or incur losses amounting to RM180 million.
“The plaintiffs further claimed Raja Petra’s reposted speech also implied Tan and Berjaya Land had benefitted under the Selangor menteri besar, acted illegally, and had unlawfully, unjustly and unduly profited by receiving monies in connection to the free land, and had defrauded the Selangor state, causing it to suffer losses,” Lew said.
They also claimed the reposted speech further suggested Tan and the company were dishonest and unethical in conducting their business and were of ill-repute.
In denying the claims, Tan and Berjaya Land alleged such notions about them are completely false as there was no such land awarded to them.
They said a special purpose vehicle called Landasan Lumayan Berjaya Sdn Bhd (LLBSB) was formed through a joint venture between Menteri Besar Incorporated subsidiary Landasan Lumayan Sdn Bhd (45%) and Berjaya Land subsidiary Berjaya Hartanah Bhd (55%) to clean and develop the Klang River.
Tan and Berjaya Land said LLBSB used property development of affordable housing projects as a means to generate revenue to fund and sustain the river cleaning initiatives under the SMG project.
“They claimed the SMG project was recognised by the Green World Awards 2023 for its efforts in cleaning the Klang River and the project to rehabilitate the river was successful in improving its water quality from Class 4 to Class 2.
“Tan and Berjaya Land have denied obtaining or being awarded the 600-acre land valued at RM10 billion. In fact, only several parcels totalling 103.6 acres that were identified as feasible for development and granted approval for alienation, were given to LLBSB with specific conditions,” Lew said.
Apart from Tan and Berjaya Land’s suit against Sanusi, Amirudin filed a separate suit following allegations made by him (Sanusi).
