Despite reaching an out-of-court settlement on a defamation suit brought by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, the battle between Lim and PAS information chief Nasrudin Hassan continues to rage on.

In the settlement yesterday, Nasrudin had retracted portions of his article which Lim claimed were defamatory against him.

However, the tussle continued when Nasrudin, better known as Tantawi in political circles, posted a statement on the settlement online.

Among others, the Temerloh MP said he was ready to defend himself in a full trial but Lim’s legal team had approached him 'anxiously' to settle the matter.

He also stressed that he did not apologise despite Lim’s demand that he do so and maintained he did not slander the DAP secretary-general in an Aug 8, 2014 statement with the heading 'What is the difference between Kidex and the Penang tunnel?’

Following this, Lim has yet again threatened legal action, this time against those who continue 'spinning' the issue.

Lim’s special legal advisor Raja Syarafina Raja Shuib said she witnessed the court proceedings yesterday and felt slighted when Nasrudin posted another article titled ‘Catatan dari Mahkamah Tinggi Georgetown – kes diselesaikan di luar mahkamah’ yesterday.

'Twisted the facts'

“Whether he wrote it out of ignorance or negligence, Nasrudin should not have twisted the facts and/or belittle the truth in his effort to defend something that is wrong,” Syarafina said in a statement.

“Lim had agreed to resolve the matter with Nasrudin even though the trial was scheduled as it was suggested by the court,” she added.

“All Nasrudin had to do, among others, was to apologise for his slanderous statement against Lim,” she explained.

“But although Nasrudin was aware that his statement against Lim was slanderous, he had refused to apologise or express his regret for causing misunderstanding against Lim in his article,” she added.

Syarafina said if Lim was merely concerned for his personal interest and refused to accept Nasrudin’s statement of regret, there would not be an agreement for the latter to express his regret and pay costs to Lim.

“Just think who has indeed lied,” she said.

In his statement today, Nasrudin said it was Lim who accused him of slander in his 2014 article on the Penang tunnel.

He said it was Lim who sued him and then wanted him to settle the case out-of-court.

“They have tried to negotiate many times so that I apologise and they then will withdraw the case,” Nasrudin said.

“In reality, about a year ago, my lawyer has received many offer letters from Lim for me to apologise in public so that they can withdraw the case but I have always maintained that I have no reason to apologise because I did not slander,” he added.

‘Don’t prolong it’

In the 2014 statement, Nasrudin alleged that Lim awarded the concession to build the undersea tunnel linking the island to Butterworth to Consortium Zenith-BUCG via direct negotiation instead of through an open tender.

Nasrudin had also questioned Pakatan Rakyat leaders on why they were not so hard on Lim compared to former Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim over the Kidex (Kinrara-Damansara Expressway) issue.

Lim has insisted that the concession was awarded via an open tender system.

Syafarina also revealed that the CM had withdrawn the defamation suit against Nasrudin yesterday after reaching an amicable settlement with the PAS leader via a consent judgement in front of Judicial Commissioner Lim Chong Fong.

The consent judgement was made after Nasrudin agreed to express his regret in court for the article which was posted on his Facebook page on Aug 6, 2014 which had cause misunderstanding towards Lim, said Raja Syarafina.

Nasrudin then read out a statement which said that after reviewing the documents presented in court, both parties agreed not to prolong the case and that he would retract his article which he found to be baseless.

Nasrudin also agreed to pay RM10,000 to Lim as compensation to cover legal costs.

“Following this clarification, we will not hesitate to initiate legal action against those who through the media continue to twist and spin the facts related to the amicable solution (between Lim and Nasrudin), Raja Syarafina said.