‘I planned to pay RM10k to Guan Eng, but I was overseas’
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng also owes the court RM500 as cost for cancelling defamation case against him, says PAS’ Nasrudin Hassan.
GEORGE TOWN: PAS Information Chief and Temerloh MP Nasrudin Hassan said he was planning to pay RM10,000 in settlement cost in a defamation case with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, but failed to do so as he was overseas.
“I was planning to settle the costs after completing a few important matters overseas.”
To date, he has not paid the money.
He said it was very unfair for the CM’s legal officer to put out a press statement accusing him of contempt of court and portraying a bad image of himself to the world.
“The legal officer must understand that claims on judgement costs (even if not paid) are not tantamount to contempt of court.
“It is merely a civil liability (judgement debt), like other debt claims,” Nasrudin said in a statement today.
Lim had taken Nasrudin to court for making a slanderous statement over the proposed undersea tunnel via a Facebook Notes posting entitled “Apa Beza Kidex dan Penang Tunnel” (“What’s difference between Kidex highway and Penang Tunnel?”) dated Aug 6, 2014.
Nasrudin had claimed that the project was awarded through direct negotiations and not through open tenders as publicised.
Earlier, Lim’s legal officer Raja Syarafina Raja Shuib claimed Nasrudin had yet to settle the RM10,000 although the court order was sent out on Sept 19.
Nasrudin also fired a salvo against Lim for not settling RM500 in costs to the court for cancelling the defamation case against him.
“If failure to pay costs is considered contempt of court, then the RM500 owing to the courts can also be considered contempt.
“I am not ready to use such a trivial issue such as the RM500 owing to the courts to make Lim look bad, just like the way his officer did to me today,” Nasrudin said.
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FMT has contacted Raja Syarafina to confirm whether this RM500 has been settled.