Sued for defamation, Muhyiddin claims Syed Mokhtar appealed IRB's decision to not honour Yayasan Albukhary's tax exemption status

KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has claimed he had received a letter from Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary appealing against the Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) decision to discontinue Yayasan Albukhary’s tax exemption during Lim Guan Eng’s time as finance minister.

The former prime minister said this in his defence statement sighted by Malay Mail which was filed in court on April 25 over a defamation suit filed by Lim against the former last month over the alleged cancellation of the tax exemption status.

Muhyiddin said the aforementioned charity foundation was tax exempted during the Barisan Nasional administration prior to the 14th General Election but that status was not honoured during Lim’s tenure.

He said the refusal amounted to a cancellation of the tax exemption.

“After the 14th general election, the Plaintiff was appointed as minister of finance, who proceeded to hold the position from May 21, 2018 to February 24, 2020,” the document said, referring to Lim.

“As the minister of finance, the Inland Revenue Board would be under his purview.

“When the defendant was the then prime minister, he received a letter from Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar to the Prime Minister’s Office, appealing against the decision of the Inland Revenue Board in not honouring the tax exemption and the decision to impose a penalty,” it said, referring to Muhyiddin.

Muhyiddin justified the alleged claims against Lim by stating he had sighted a letter from the Finance Ministry to Syed Mokhtar “sometime in 2021” informing that the ministry under Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz had allowed the appeal.

“The defendant is therefore allowed to draw an inference and conclude that the tax exemption was cancelled, or else there would be no need for an appeal to be made or allowed by the Ministry of Finance in 2021,” he said.

Muhyiddin’s 30-page defence statement, filed by solicitors Chetan Jethwani & Co, relies on the defences of justification, fair comment and qualified privilege to counter Lim’s defamation suit.

In relation to the impugned words, Muhyiddin said he has a legitimate social and moral interest in conveying the said information to the public who has a common and corresponding interest to receive the same.

“Both the plaintiff and the defendant are seasoned politicians, who are accountable to the public.

“It is necessary for the welfare of the society that there should be a frank exchange of information and opinions on the manner in which public authorities carry out their public duties and the curtailing of the same would be a breach of the defendant’s freedom of expression under Article 5 of the Federal Constitution,” he said.

Muhyiddin also said the impugned words consist of statements of fact which were true in substance and an expression of opinion which were fair comment on a matter of public interest.

The defence statement also said Muhyiddin had no authority over any publication by the media of his alleged defamatory statements.

Muhyiddin also stated the number of viewers and comments is not definitive and cannot be used to measure the scale of publication involving the alleged defamatory statements.

In the ongoing lawsuit filed on March 27, Lim had alleged Muhyiddin made defamatory statements against him on March 9 and March 11 on the former prime minister’s Facebook account as well as his remarks on March 12 to the media.

In the court documents sighted by Malay Mail, Lim wants Muhyiddin to retract his statement, remove all those statements from his social media accounts, and make a public apology to him for those comments.

The former finance minister also wants the court to issue an injunction on Muhyiddin or his team barring them from making further comments on the matter.

Muhyiddin’s remarks had alleged that Lim had back then as the finance minister been involved in the previous Pakatan Harapan government’s purported cancellation of the tax exemption status for charitable organisation Yayasan Albukhary, which was said to carry out work helping Muslims.

Lim disputes Muhyiddin’s allegations as untrue.

Lim said the statements, in their natural and ordinary meaning, were meant to show that he had abused his position and power by authorising the imposition of taxes and penalties on a welfare foundation.

He said they were also meant to depict him as being racist, anti-Malay, anti-Islam and a vindictive person, and that he had acted in bad faith.