Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s defamation suit against former Penang Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Teng Chang Yeow was resolved today after Teng agreed to retract the offensive statements he had made about Lim and the Penang undersea tunnel project.
Lawyer Simon Murali lawyer, representing Lim, told the High Court here that the suit was resolved after both parties entered a consent judgement in which Teng, as the defendant in the case, agreed to retract the defamatory statements he made last year.
“Both the plaintiff and defendant will not have any other claims against each other for now or in future with regards to this case,” he said before Judge Rosilah Yop, today.
In his statement of retraction that he read out in the High Court in Penang today, Teng said: “I, hereby, unconditionally and unreservedly, retract the impugned statements that I made in a press conference convened on Jan 16 and 18, 2018.”
“The statements were published on Jan 17 last year in the New Straits Times, with the title, ‘Come clean on payments, Penang urged’.
“They were also published on the same day in Malay daily Berita Harian, with the heading, ‘Pulau Pinang sembunyi fakta bayaran’ (Penang hides facts about payment).
“On Jan 19 last year, New Straits Times carried another report quoting Teng, headlined ‘Penang BN claims CM lied about 4 issues’,” Teng said.
Following the reports, Lim sued Teng for defamation over allegations that he (Lim) had lied in his statements on the Penang undersea tunnel and road projects.
“I regret the hardship and difficulties caused to YB Tuan Lim Guan Eng due to the publication of the above,” Teng added.
Outside the courtroom, Lim said: “This shows that whatever was said against me in the reports were untrue, and today Teng has retracted his remarks.”
“It also shows that the allegations in the reports were baseless, untrue and malicious with the intent to undermine me and the Penang government,” Lim added.