Selangor Opposition Leader Dr Mohd Khir Toyo was given seven days to retract his statements against Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim on the recent ‘Lexus and cattle’ saga published in local newspapers.

anwar arrest sankara nair pc 160708 01 According to Khalid’s lawyer Sankara Nair, two letters of demand for an apology, retraction and damages were sent by mail to the former menteri besar yesterday. Failure to meet the demands will result in further legal action against Khir.

The two letters referred “Lexus is my own, says Khalid”, a report in the New Straits Times on Jan 15, and “Lepaskan jawatan MB” (vacate MB seat), published in Utusan Malaysia on Jan 23.

“The articles are bereft of truth and are a distortion calculated to disparage our client’s reputation and undermine his integrity in both his personal and public capacity,” Sankara said.

“There are no transgressions on his (Khalid’s) part in the two cases,” he said, adding that Khalid bought the car during the Ijok by-election and had all the documents to prove that it was his personal car.

In the report, Khir had denied approving the purchase of a Mercedes S350L worth almost RM1 million for his personal use, using state subsidiary Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad’s funds when he was Selangor menteri besar.

He instead had questioned why Khalid had not stopped the KDEB funds from buying a luxury car, a Lexus 460, worth almost RM1 million for Khalid’s use as the new chairperson of the company after Khalid became the menteri besar.

“(Opposition Leader) Anwar Ibrahim promised there would be no new cars or office renovation during a gathering in conjunction with ‘Pakatan’s 100 days in office.’ Why go against his orders, or was Anwar lying,” Khir was quoted as saying.

He said this in response to a press statement made by Khalid’s political secretary Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad that he had approved the purchase of the Mercedes for his exclusive use and the state government had to bear the extravagant cost.

Cattle issue included

On the alleged misuse of RM110,400 of state funds for the purchase of cattle, Khalid had recently explained that the arrangements to purchase and donate the cattle (for Hari Raya Korban) were made solely by state agency Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS) and the donor companies, without his or his officers’ involvement.

khalid ibrahim and khir toyo selangor Despite the explanations, Khir still did not apologise or retract his statements, Sankara said.

“If an apology and retraction come, my client will forget the matter, otherwise we will go by way of summons,” he said, adding that Khir did not check his facts before making the allegations.

On Jan 22, the former menteri besar claimed that he had ‘document evidence’ to show that Khalid had indeed given out instructions to pay for the cattle.

A day after that, Bandar Tun Razak PKR division clarified that it claimed full responsibility for the slaughter and distribution of 46 cattle in the constituency as they were the ones “who applied to PKNS directly for the cattle”.

On whether Khalid would also ask the Anti-Corruption People’s Movement (Gerak), which had highlighted the cattle issue, to retract its report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Sankara said his team would have to study the matter first.