PKR Youth information chief Lee Chean Chung has refused to apologise for his claim that Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chief Hasan Arifin earned at least RM321,000 from a land deal.

This was after Hasan issued a letter to Lee on June 24, demanding that he apologise within 14 days.

If Lee failed to do so, Hasan said he would file a defamation suit against Lee and demand RM5 million in damages.

"After discussing the matter with my lawyer, I want to inform here that I will not apologise," Lee said at a press conference today.

Hasan (photo) cited the June 23 report carried by news portal Malaysiakini and The Malay Mail in the letter he sent to Lee.

He described Lee's action to lodge a report with Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) as mala fide (in bad faith).

"This is an attempt to get publicity that will tarnish my image and integrity as PAC chief and Rompin MP," wrote Hasan.

Lee had alleged that it all started in 1997, when the Pahang state government approved the sale of a 141,000 square foot piece of land in Mukim Kuala Kuantan to a private firm.

Hasan was at the time the Pahang deputy menteri besar.

Lee cited documents stating that in 2002, three years after his term as deputy MB ended, Hasan purchased the land for RM76,499.

“(But) the estimated value of the land based on the stamp duty office’s assessment notice is RM213,000.

“Hasan had bought the land for 61 percent below market value,” Lee had said.

Hasan also denied there was any corruption in the land deal, saying the land he purchased from a company called Pasdec was not a Malay reserve land, but a piece of freehold land.

He denied he was the board member of both Pasdec and Pahang State Development Corporation (PKNP) when he purchased the land.

"The purchase from Pasdec and the selling was done above board and there were no elements of corruption," Hasan said in the letter he penned.

"As comparison, state and federal government agencies such as Putrajaya Holdings and SPPK sell land to government officials and staff," he added.