MALAYSIA: Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, and top officials from Berjaya Corporation and Genting Group have denied the casino plans in Forest City news from Bloomberg, The Edge Singapore reports.
According to the Bloomberg report on April 25, Berjaya Corporation founder Mr Vincent Tan and Genting Group’s CEO Lim Kok Thay supposedly met to discuss plans for a casino in Forest City and that the talks were in the “preliminary” stages.
However, both Berjaya and Genting have denied this, saying the statement was “false” and that they didn’t talk with the Malaysian government about opening a casino there.
Mr Anwar Ibrahim also denied this, confirming no plans to issue a second casino license to Forest City. He stated, “Those who raised the issue of a casino licence lied. It is not true. That’s a lie.”
Free Malaysia Today reported that Berjaya has taken legal action. Their lawyers filed police reports on Friday to uncover the identity of the unnamed source of the information.
Berjaya claimed it “was made with malicious intent, aimed to cause political upheaval, undermine the public trust and distort public perception” of key figures Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Ibrahim, and the prime minister.
They said the person who leaked this information was spreading false statements and criticised news outlets for not verifying the information before publishing it.
Berjaya emphasised that Mr Vincent Tan had no part in any talks about a casino in Forest City with anyone mentioned, including Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kok Thay, or Sultan Ibrahim’s representatives.
The Sun reported a statement from Berjaya saying, “They have misrepresented our supposed involvement in discussions with Anwar regarding the Forest City project and wish to make it clear that Tan has not participated in any such discussions.”
The unnamed source, now identified as political activist Badrul Hisham Shaharin, also known as Chegubard, has been detained at Dang Wangi district police headquarters.
This action follows his online post regarding the alleged discussions of a casino at Forest City.
In a statement, lawyer Rafique Rashid disclosed that investigations are underway under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948 and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
Additionally, he mentioned that an application for remand is scheduled to be heard at the district police headquarters around 8:45 am on April 28.
The Bloomberg report was also cited by The Edge Singapore and The Business Times of Singapore.
Berjaya and Genting Malaysia have urged all publications to clarify, remove the articles from all platforms, and cease spreading inaccurate information.
The Straits Times reported on Genting Malaysia’s statement, stating, “Genting Malaysia Bhd shall not hesitate to take further action deemed necessary to protect its interests and its stakeholders.” /TISG