In an open court today, PAS' Temerloh MP Nasrudin Hassan has withdrawn a portion of his statement made on Aug 6, 2014, which offended Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Nasrudin said he regretted that the article has caused misunderstanding with Lim.

"We have decided not to prolong the case.

"I have decided to withdraw the portion of the article which offended Lim because it has no basis," Nasrudin read his statement in the High Court.

Judicial Commissioner Lim Chong Fong ordered Nasrudin to pay Lim RM10,000 in compensation.

Lim was represented by Murali Navaratnam.

He sued Nasrudin for his statement that Lim had used direct negotiations to award the RM4.63 billion project to Consortium Zenith BUCG Bhd.

Nasrudin alleged that Lim used direct negotiations although Pakatan Rakyat was against it.

He had then questioned why Lim was not criticised for the project as was former Selangor menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim who was slammed and told to resign for the Kinrara-Damansara Expressway.

The PAS leader also questioned Lim's alleged "excessive spending" on something that is unnecessary when Penang had recorded budget deficits for six consecutive years.

“Where is the Pakatan leadership in reprimanding his actions?” Nasrudin had queried.

The Kidex project featured high up on the list of reasons why PKR was seeking to replace Khalid as menteri besar.

The cost of the project was estimated at RM161 million, with a concession period of 48 years.

Misunderstanding about terminology

When met outside court, Nasrudin's lawyer Wan Rohimi Wan Daud said the question of "apology" does not arise as the misunderstanding about the article in his Facebook was about terminology.

"Nasrudin mentioned direct negotiation while Lim insisted that it was an open tender.

"It was actually a request for proposal, which is neither direct negotiation nor open tender," he explained.

Rohimi said the lawyers from both sides tried to negotiate a settlement this morning but failed.

He added that later Justice Chong Fong called the two parties - without their lawyers - and reached a settlement.

Meanwhile, Lim said Nasrudin's withdrawal of the offending parts of the article showed that the state government had carried out an open tender system to award the undersea tunnel project to Zenith BUCG.