Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has filed a defamation suit against Penang Chinese Chambers of Commerce (PCCC) life honorary president Tan Kok Ping.
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has initiated legal action against Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping over alleged slanderous remarks made during a press conference in October last year.
The civil action centres on Tan’s comments concerning a land deal between Penang Development Corporation (PDC) and Umech Land Sdn Bhd.
“Even though the termination of the agreement was already announced by PDC to the media and the public on Oct 16, 2023, Tan deliberately made slanderous statement in Mandarin during the press conference calculated to attack my character, credibility, competency, and capability as the chief minister of Penang and as the chairperson of PDC.
“The slanderous statement was eventually printed and published in, among others, several prominent Chinese language newspapers. Given that there was no attempt by Tan to apologise or to retract the slanderous statement made, I am compelled to pursue legal action against Tan,” Chow said.
Chow’s legal team has obtained sealed copies of the suit’s writ of summons and statement of claim, to be served on Tan.
According to Chow’s statement of claim, Tan had called Chow “incompetent, ignorant and shameless” at the press conference.
The claim seeks general, aggravated, and exemplary damages as deemed appropriate by the court.
The case will be reviewed by the High Court registrar on January 24.