Dr M demands Puad's apology over Umno land transfer accusation

Summary

• Dr Mahathir Mohamad has issued a legal letter demanding a public apology from Umno’s Puad Zarkashi over a false claim regarding a land transfer.

• Puad had accused Mahathir of breaching trust, but later admitted he was mistaken and cited unclear media reports as the cause.

• Mahathir maintains the accusation is slanderous and reserves the right to pursue legal action.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has issued a legal letter to Umno supreme council member Puad Zarkashi, demanding that the latter make a public apology to him in front of the media.

This is after Puad had erroneously accused Mahathir of obstructing the transfer of a plot of land that the former premier is holding in trust for the party.

According to a statement from the lawyer Rafique Rashid, who is acting for Mahathir, the letter demands that Puad hold a press conference at Umno’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and invite the mainstream press and social media.

At the press conference, Puad is to admit that he has made a mistake, and the allegation that Mahathir had made a breach of trust is untrue.

In addition, Puad (above, left) is to write an open and unreserved apology to Mahathir within seven days from the date of the notice today.

The apology should include an undertaking that he and anyone acting on his behalf will never make any statements that impinge on Mahathir’s reputation or integrity, and is subject to Mahathir’s satisfaction or acceptance.

“Mahathir reserves his rights to take legal action on this matter if deemed suitable or necessary, including against other parties,” Rafique added.

The former Umno president’s threat of legal action is in response to Puad’s Facebook post on April 12 titled “Tun M must return Umno’s property”, following media reports of Umno’s lawsuit on April 10 to compel the Registrar of the Federal Territory Land and Mines Office to execute the transfer of a plot of land to Umno.

The plot

The plot is located at Lot 40, Section 51, Kuala Lumpur, which is occupied by the Seri Pacific Hotel. It is adjacent to the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre and Menara Dato’ Onn, which houses Umno’s headquarters.

A day later, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claimed one of the trustees was refusing to relinquish the land to the party even though other trustees had done so, but did not name names.

Puad, meanwhile, aimed squarely at Mahathir.

“It is a breach of trust if he refuses to sign the release document. He was supposed to return it in 2008 because he left Umno for the first time in 2008.

“Has he no shame? He accused other people of all sorts of things. That is not personal property,” he wrote.

Mahathir decried the accusations by Zahid and Puad as slander.

He said he and the other three trustees had signed a statutory declaration in 2015 to facilitate the application to transfer the land to Umno, but the application had been rejected on technical grounds.

Puad conceded he was mistaken after Mahathir’s rebuke and blamed it on “unclear” media reports about the lawsuit.

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