SHAH ALAM – Caretaker Environment and Water Minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has filed a defamation suit against PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli.
The suit was in relation to Rafizi's statement claiming that Tuan Ibrahim had approved flood mitigation works after the dissolution of Parliament.
In a statement on Facebook, Tuan Ibrahim said he accepted Rafizi's challenge to sue him.
The suit, he said was filed through Messrs Yusfarizal Aziz & Zaid at 4pm, yesterday (Thursday).
"I have sent a notice of demand on Nov 10 to Rafizi over his irresponsible and defamatory statement against me. I gave seven days for him to apologise and retract his statement.
"However, there was no written response to my lawyer and instead he kept on making defamatory statements against me which have no basis," he said.
He said that people would remember about the late Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim who was brought down from his Selangor Menteri Besar post due to slander.
To stop Rafizi's smear campaign towards him, Tuan Ibrahim said action must be taken in accordance to the law to seek justice and the truth.
"Rafizi made malicious accusations, made misleading facts and lies to defame me and ruin my credibility and that of Pas with the polling day just around the corner on Nov 19.
"I hope that those who have been defamed by Rafizi will follow suit.
"I accepted Rafizi's challenge to sue him. The 73-page writ of summons and statement of claim have been filed in court," he said.
The Pas deputy president said he hoped that Rafizi will be brave enough to go through the court process accordingly rather than throwing around defamation on social media and on the stage (ceramah).
Previously, Rafizi alleged that Tuan Ibrahim was in the process of awarding a RM2 billion flood mitigation project to an Umno-linked company.
The project, he said was in relation to a flood barrier at Sungai Langat and that it was the second contract awarded to the same company in the past six months.