KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has deposited RM1.4 million in judgment debt owed to DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng in a defamation suit regarding the revocation of tax exemption for Yayasan Albukhary.
Lawyer Guok Ngek Seong, representing Lim, said the former Prime Minister had deposited the balance of the full amount, including costs of RM50,000, in his law firm’s account yesterday.
“Tan Sri (Muhyiddin) paid RM1 million to my firm’s client account yesterday. RM400,000 had been paid in December. It is as a condition for the stay of the judgment obtained by Lim against Tan Sri Muhyiddin,“ he said when contacted by the media today.
On Nov 8 last year, Judge Roz Mawar Rozain allowed Lim’s suit against Muhyiddin after finding that the former finance minister had successfully proven his case and ordered the Bersatu president to pay RM1.35 million in damages to Lim.
She also ordered Muhyiddin to pay RM50,000 in costs to Lim.
Meanwhile, lawyer Chetan Jethwani, representing Muhyiddin, when confirming the matter said that the amount of judgment had to be paid to Lim’s counsel before Jan 31 to be held as a stakeholder pending his client’s appeal.
“So the balance of the total judgment had been deposited with Lims’s counsel yesterday,” he said when contacted by the media today.
On Dec 16 last year, Roz Mawar granted Muhyiddin a conditional stay of execution on the payment of damages, ordering him to pay RM400,000 by Dec 31, and the remaining RM1.02 million by Jan 27, 2025.
Lim filed the defamation suit against Muhyiddin on March 27 last year for allegedly issuing three defamatory statements against him in Facebook posts dated March 9, 11, and 12, 2023.
Lim claimed that the defamatory statements implied he abused his position and power by authorising or directing the Inland Revenue Board to impose taxes and penalties on Yayasan Albukhary, even though the charitable foundation was granted an exemption.
