Lim, who is chairman of PDC, the state investment arm, sent a notice of action for defamation dated Nov 25 to Teng via his lawyer N Mureli, asking Teng to prove his claim, which had been reported by the press, within 48 hours of receiving the notice.
The notice, which cited the Nov 16 article “Pulau Jerejak Land Sale Questioned” in The Star and The Star Online, told Teng to prove the authenticity of his published statements, and inform the plaintiff the full identities, details and addresses of his sources.
The notice also demanded from Teng a retraction and apology, as well as damages for injuring Lim’s reputation within seven days of receiving the notice. Legal action, he said, would be taken if Teng failed to comply with the demands.
Teng, when contacted today, said he had received the notice from Lim’s lawyer.
“I will call a press conference tomorrow,” he said without commenting further on what he planned to do.
It was reported last month that Teng, who heads the Barisan Nasional opposition in Penang, had questioned why Lim had rejected a joint-venture deal between Tropical Island Resort Sdn Bhd and developer Ideal Property in 2013 that could have profited PDC RM220 million.
He said he was quoting “reliable” PDC sources that the deal inked in December 2013 had a potential profit guarantee of up to RM450 million based on a gross development value of RM1.5 billion.
He was reported to have also asked why Lim was “silent over his rejection of the joint-venture but decided to sell PDC’s 49% stake in Pulau Jerejak to Ideal Property’s subsidiary.
Ideal Properties Group subsidiary Q Islands Development Sdn Bhd recently bought PDC’s 49% stake for RM156 million, earning PDC a RM140 million profit.
Lim had earlier denied the existence of such a joint-venture deal.
Today, when addressing PDC staff and the media at PDC’s early Christmas party in Bayan Baru, he said he would not have turned down such a profitable deal if it had existed.
“You all know me. If we could profit that much, how could I have let it pass? ‘Ada satu sen pun saya akan bantai.’ (Even a single sen I would snap up.)”
Lim said he had asked PDC general manager Rosli Jaafar but that he said there was no such deal.
“Until today, I am asking Teng for proof. It is a serious allegation to say we rejected a RM220 million profit to take just RM140 million.
“‘Main-main ke? (Is this fooling around?) This is no small coffee shop business. It was out in the press and the whole country thinks we turned down a big profit.
“That is why I have sent the notice of demand. I won’t let him off,” he said before copies of the notice to Teng were given to reporters.
On Nov 18, Lim also sent The Star a notice of demand, seeking a retraction and apology over the Nov 16 article that it ran on Pulau Jerejak.