KUALA LUMPUR (July 24): Former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will proceed with legal action against current prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim over the matter of the RM8.3 billion Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) settlers’ debt write-off.
The Bersatu chief's lawyers at Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership (RDS) said that they have been instructed to go ahead with the suit as Anwar had refused to retract his statements on the debt write-off, which Muhyiddin had deemed to be defamatory, claiming that Anwar was trying to "spin" the issue.
In a brief letter issued to Anwar's lawyers at SN Nair & Partners on Monday (July 24), the Pagoh Member of Parliament's legal team also rubbished Anwar's counterclaim where he is seeking an apology, retraction and RM200 million in damages for Muhyiddin's allegedly defamatory statements.
"You should be aware that your client's claim of RM200 million is ridiculous and if the said claim is to be filed, it is considered an abuse and mockery of the court process," the letter stated.
In the letter seen by The Edge, Muhyiddin's legal team also stressed that the PKR chief was mistaken in the issue and stood by Muhyiddin's claim that documents released by Anwar and the MOF last week were regarding a sukuk bond and not the Felda settlers' debt.
The two statesmen have been embroiled in a war of words over the debt write-off and have filed letters of demand against each other.
The waiver of the Felda settler's loans was first announced in July 2021 by Muhyiddin. However, Anwar claimed that zero allocations were made to resolve and dispose of Felda’s debts under the Perikatan Nasional government’s budgets.
In the Tambun MP's counterclaim letter, his lawyers also argued that their client's comments on the matter were taken out of context.
Muhyiddin first sent a letter of demand (LOD) through his lawyers on July 18 over Anwar's statements alleging that the ex-PM's administration had never implemented his promise to write off RM8.3 billion in loans granted to Felda settlers.
Following the LOD, the Pakatan Harapan chief had shared documents to the public and the media that he had signed and executed agreements in relation to a government guarantee for Felda in late June.
According to previous reports, the government guarantee will enable Felda to restructure the agency's loans through the issuance of sukuk and revolving credit, in an effort to restore the agency's finances and enable it to continue to waive some RM8.3 billion worth of settlers' loans.
The Finance Ministry, which Anwar also helms, said a large part of this Felda loan restructuring will involve a reduction of Felda's debt principal with financial institutions by RM7.9 billion.
The move will also reduce Felda's financial cost against interest rates imposed, and enable Felda to cancel 80% of the settler's debt that was implemented in 2021, it said.
This means that the waiver of the settlers' debt — which Putrajaya previously announced in February this year that it had halted due to Felda's cash flow problems — would continue.
At the time, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Azalina Othman had informed Parliament via a written reply that the government would not be able to carry on writing off Felda settler's loans any longer as it had made a huge impact on Felda's cash flow.