No black and white from Zuraida for estate housing project, court hears

Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng told the Shah Alam High Court today that he had never received any budget request from former housing and local government minister Zuraida Kamaruddin to build estate houses in Kuala Kubu Bharu during his tenure.

Testifying in his defamation case against Zuraida, Lim (above) said he does not recall having discussions about the development projects with the defendant, either personally or in meetings.

This contradicts Zuraida’s claims in her defence statement that her application was rejected at a meeting in October 2018 and subsequent meetings in 2019.

Lim emphasised that even if there were verbal agreements, they must be made official with written applications to the Finance Ministry for its civil servants to do the necessary.

“However, there is no such official application from her (Zuraida) in the Finance Ministry’s office. Any oral application must be supported by official documents.

“If a particular application (for budget) is sent to me, it would be cross-referred with officials in the instant, and cannot be just hearsay. There must be a follow-up via formal application,” he said during cross-examination by Zuraida’s lawyer, Nizamuddin Hamid.

“As finance minister, we dealt with thousands of applications which involved humongous sums of funds. Without a formal application, it will not be entertained, because there was no black and white evidence to support it,” he added.

The former Penang chief minister further said that prior to Zuraida’s statement on May 10, 2024, he had no knowledge of the housing project, nor whether it was approved during the previous administration, where former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak was the finance minister.

Lim, 65, had filed a defamation suit against Zuraida, the editor of online news portal Malaysianow and its owner, Mnow Media Sdn Bhd, in June 2024, where he claimed Zuraida had uttered defamatory statements against him over a housing project for former plantation workers in Bestari Jaya.

Zuraida’s allegation was centred on what purportedly took place during Lim’s tenure helming the Finance Ministry from 2018 to 2020.

The Bagan MP claimed that the statement was carried on MalaysiaNow, via the article “Zuraida dakwa Guan Eng tolak dua kali permohonan KPKT bina rumah pekerja ladang Bestari Jaya” published on the same date.

‘False narrative’

Lim’s former political secretary, Tony Pua, who took the stand as the plaintiff’s second witness today, told the court that Lim could not have rejected an application that did not exist.

“The allegation is factually impossible. Despite my public clarification on the same day, the defendants did not retract or correct the impugned oral statements. They allowed the false narrative to continue circulating publicly.

“The statements clearly lower the plaintiff in the estimation of right-thinking members of society, subject him to public contempt or ridicule and wrongly accuse him of abusing his position as the finance minister,” Pua said.

He added that he had no recollection of any proposal relating to the alleged housing project from the Housing and Local Government Ministry being submitted to or considered by the Finance Ministry while he was Lim’s political secretary.

“By contrast, I distinctly recall other proposals from the Housing and Local Government Ministry during the same period.

“These include a low-cost housing rental scheme that required the Finance Ministry’s guarantees, which progressed through ministerial discussions and officer-level presentations before being discontinued at the officers’ level as it was assessed to unduly guarantee profits to a private bank while exposing the government to losses.

“In these circumstances, I am confident that had a formal and legitimate application of the nature alleged existed and progressed beyond preliminary discussions, it would have come to the attention of the plaintiff of his office, and I would have been aware of it,” Pua said.

The plaintiff then rested their case before judge Shoba Rajah. The defendant’s lawyer confirmed to Malaysiakini after the proceeding that Zuraida will be taking the stand tomorrow.

Zuraida says she told off Anwar for picking Farhash as political aide

PKR v Zuraida: Leave to appeal bond payment set for June 24 hearing

Guan Eng sues Zuraida for defamation

Estate houses: PSM wants Guan Eng to explain 'refusing allocation' charge

COMMENT | Plantation workers' struggle for housing bearing fruit