Guan Eng initiates bankruptcy proceedings against Muhyiddin over RM1.4m debt after defamation judgment

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 — Lim Guan Eng has filed a bankruptcy notice against Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin following a RM1.4 million judgment awarded by the High Court in a defamation suit.

The suit stemmed from remarks made by the former prime minister concerning Yayasan Al-Bukhary’s tax-exempt status, according to a report published today in Free Malaysia Today.

Guok Partnership, Lim’s solicitors, confirmed the filing this evening with lawyer Guok Ngek Seong saying the bankruptcy notice will need to be served personally to the Bersatu president once the sealed copy is obtained from the court.

“The notice was filed after the defendant failed to pay the judgment sum as demanded within a specific period,” he said.

Guok also mentioned that he had been served with cause papers filed on Muhyiddin’s behalf, seeking to stay the execution of the judgment.

Muhyiddin’s lawyers, Chetan Jethwani & Co, filed the stay application today, pending his appeal of the High Court ruling made last month.

On November 8, Justice Roz Mawar Rozain determined that Lim, the DAP chairman and former Penang chief minister, had successfully proven his case against Muhyiddin based on the balance of probabilities.

“The statements had lowered his (Lim’s) reputation in the eyes of an ordinary person,” she said in her grounds of judgment.

Justice Roz Mawar granted Lim RM350,000 in general damages for each of the three defamatory statements, RM150,000 in aggravated damages, and an additional RM150,000 in exemplary damages.

She also instructed Muhyiddin to pay RM50,000 in costs and ordered him to retract the defamatory statements and refrain from republishing them.

The defamation stemmed from statements made by Muhyiddin on March 9, in which he alleged that Lim, as finance minister, had wrongfully caused the Inland Revenue Department (LHDN) to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Muslim charitable organisation Yayasan Albukhary.

The statement came shortly after Muhyiddin’s release from arrest by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

The judge also determined that a second statement made by Muhyiddin in a media release two days later was defamatory towards Lim.

In that statement, Muhyiddin claimed that Lim was responsible for imposing a tax on the foundation and for levying a 45 per cent penalty on tax payable for preceding years.

Additionally, the court ruled in Lim’s favour concerning a third statement made by Muhyiddin after his speech at Bersatu’s annual general assembly on March 12.

In that statement, Muhyiddin asserted that the decision to revoke the foundation’s tax-exempt status must have been issued by Lim, as LHDN fell under his authority at the time.

Roz Mawar concluded that the three statements implied Lim had abused his power against Muslims, “exposing him to hatred in a multiracial society,” and referred to Muhyiddin’s defenses of justification, fair comment, and qualified privilege as unsustainable.