Acting Penang Gerakan Youth chief Jason Loo said he and his family were threatened with physical assault following the defamation suit brought against him by Consortium Zenith-BUCG (CZBUCG).

In his counter-claim filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, Loo said that CZBUCG, which had been awarded the contract to for the Penang undersea tunnel project, had misled the public with its "reckless" defamation suit against him.

"(Following this,) the defendant and his family members have been harassed, threatened and warned of physical assault by those linked to the plaintiff or supporters of the Penang state government.

"As such, the safety of the defendant and his family have been compromised," his counter-claim stated.

CZBUCG filed a defamation suit against Loo in August, citing his comments made in a press conference in June this year.

In June, Loo had alleged during a press conference that the feasibility study for the project only cost RM90 million, as stated on the website of the China Railway Construction Group, one of the partners of CZBUCG.

This contrasted starkly with the RM305 million bill stated by the Penang government, he had said.

Wants to move case to Penang

According to Loo's counter-claim, the consortium's defamation suit had also gave the impression that he had wrongfully and maliciously defamed the consortium for his own political gains.

In his defence, he told the court that he never mentioned the name of the consortium in his remarks during the said press conference, but had only referred to Penang state government officials.

One of Loo's counsel, Chai Ko Thing, said that they are also seeking to transfer the case to Penang as the cause of action as well as Loo originates from Penang.

The case management today was performed in front of deputy registrar Nurul Ain Hamzah. The next case management has been fixed for Nov 21.

Loo is also represented by Ong Siang Ling and Andy Yong.