KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — Caretaker environment and water minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said he has accepted PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli’s challenge to sue him.

Tuan Ibrahim said he had instructed his lawyers to file a defamation suit against Rafizi for allegedly claiming that he had approved flood mitigation works after the dissolution of Parliament

He added that he decided to do so after Rafizi failed to respond to a letter of demand (LoD) sent by his lawyers last week seeking a public apology and a retraction of his allegations within seven days of the notice.

"I sent a notice to Rafizi on November 10 over his irresponsible statement that defamed me, and I gave him seven days to apologise and retract his claim.

"However, he did not write to my lawyers and continued to spread falsehoods about me,” wrote Tuan Ibrahim in a Facebook post today.

He said that he decided to take legal recourse to put a stop to the "defamation culture” in politics and Rafizi’s constant barrage of accusations that tarnished his reputation.

The PAS deputy president then urged those who had allegedly been defamed by Rafizi to come forward and follow his lead.

"I hope Rafizi is daring enough to face the legal process instead of flooding social media and the public arena with defamatory claims.

"I have accepted his challenge to sue him. The writ of summons and statement of claims is 73 pages long and has been accepted by the court,” said the incumbent Kubang Kerian MP.

On November 11, Rafizi shared with the media an allegedly official letter addressed to the chief secretary of the Environment and Water Ministry, which said that a company had been approved via direct negotiation for a flood mitigation project at Sungai Langat.

The company had allegedly been approved by Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

The letter was dated October 7, which was the day Budget 2023 was tabled in Parliament, and also one working day before the dissolution of Parliament was announced on October 10.

Rafizi had also said at the time that he hopes Tuan Ibrahim will follow through with his defamation lawsuit threat.

"I want to go to court because I have concrete proof of what I have revealed,” he said at a news conference at the PKR headquarters.

Tuan Ibrahim said that the evidence Rafizi provided showed that the project was not approved by his ministry and was signed before the Parliament was dissolved.

Rafizi had first commented on the matter on November 7, where he said the company that had allegedly received the project had a special status making it exempt from having to file audited financial statements.

He also alleged that the company’s owner was close to the Umno leadership.