By Aaron Ngui
GEORGE TOWN (Jan20, 2012) : Following a Court of Appeal ruling that the state government was not liable to pay RM 40 million to a businessman in a land case, the Penang Barisan National (BN) is calling upon Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to apologize for using the case to gain political mileage.
State BN working committee chairman Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan claimed Lim, along with the other Excos and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) assemblyman had used the
issue, widely reported as the "Tang Hak Ju scam or scandal", to smear the BN's reputation in the state as it happened before PR formed the state government.
He said the Lim's administration should also withdraw words like "scam" and "scandal" when referring to the case as those words had criminal connotations.
"If he (Lim) is man enough, if he walks the talk (which is) being accountable then he should apologize," Teng said at a press conference yesterday but did not set a deadline or give an ultimatum.
The Tang Hak Ju case involved a 10.6 acre quarry site which had been leased to an individual in 2001 but the deal was later cancelled.
The individual had sought RM 1.8 million in compensation but the BN-led state government then refused to pay, leading to legal proceedings in which the court awarded the plaintiff pay RM 40 million including interests.
When PR took over the state's administration, it "unveiled" the issue creating a media firestorm and ultimately a white paper on the matter was
presented to the state assembly in May last year by Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy.
Teng, who revealed that the Court of Appeal verdict which overturned the High Court ruling ordering the state government to pay was made last Wednesday (Jan 11) in Putrajaya, also called upon the white paper to be withdrawn.
He described certain statements in the white paper as vicious and unfair and expressed his disappointment with Ramasamy.
He also explained that the then state government decided not to pay because the plaintiff, did not give a receipt for wanting the payment.
"We ask for receipt, never given any receipt, how are we going to give RM 1.8 million … how can the state government go into agreement with the plaintiff without going through a proper procedure?" he said adding that there was also no proof that the plaintiff had suffered losses.
Teng added that the ruling by the appellate court had also ordered that only RM500,000 in incidental costs was to be paid to the plaintiff, noting that it was some 400 per cent less than the RM1.8million sought.
He said the ruling immediately vindicated and cleared the previous BN-led state government from any wrongdoing and questioned why the state administration had kept quiet over the ruling.
"We had been waiting for the state government (for 10 days) to issue a statement to tell the people but 10 days is too long to wait," he said.
- http://m.thesundaily.my
GEORGE TOWN (Jan20, 2012) : Following a Court of Appeal ruling that the state government was not liable to pay RM 40 million to a businessman in a land case, the Penang Barisan National (BN) is calling upon Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to apologize for using the case to gain political mileage.
State BN working committee chairman Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan claimed Lim, along with the other Excos and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) assemblyman had used the
issue, widely reported as the "Tang Hak Ju scam or scandal", to smear the BN's reputation in the state as it happened before PR formed the state government.
He said the Lim's administration should also withdraw words like "scam" and "scandal" when referring to the case as those words had criminal connotations.
"If he (Lim) is man enough, if he walks the talk (which is) being accountable then he should apologize," Teng said at a press conference yesterday but did not set a deadline or give an ultimatum.
The Tang Hak Ju case involved a 10.6 acre quarry site which had been leased to an individual in 2001 but the deal was later cancelled.
The individual had sought RM 1.8 million in compensation but the BN-led state government then refused to pay, leading to legal proceedings in which the court awarded the plaintiff pay RM 40 million including interests.
When PR took over the state's administration, it "unveiled" the issue creating a media firestorm and ultimately a white paper on the matter was
presented to the state assembly in May last year by Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy.
Teng, who revealed that the Court of Appeal verdict which overturned the High Court ruling ordering the state government to pay was made last Wednesday (Jan 11) in Putrajaya, also called upon the white paper to be withdrawn.
He described certain statements in the white paper as vicious and unfair and expressed his disappointment with Ramasamy.
He also explained that the then state government decided not to pay because the plaintiff, did not give a receipt for wanting the payment.
"We ask for receipt, never given any receipt, how are we going to give RM 1.8 million … how can the state government go into agreement with the plaintiff without going through a proper procedure?" he said adding that there was also no proof that the plaintiff had suffered losses.
Teng added that the ruling by the appellate court had also ordered that only RM500,000 in incidental costs was to be paid to the plaintiff, noting that it was some 400 per cent less than the RM1.8million sought.
He said the ruling immediately vindicated and cleared the previous BN-led state government from any wrongdoing and questioned why the state administration had kept quiet over the ruling.
"We had been waiting for the state government (for 10 days) to issue a statement to tell the people but 10 days is too long to wait," he said.
- http://m.thesundaily.my
posted from Bloggeroid
No comments:
Post a Comment