Batu Kawan land deal issue: Chow-Ramasamy mediation set for July 2

New Straits Times

5 hours ago

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Court Mediation Centre has fixed July 2 for a third round of mediation between Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and former deputy chief minister II Dr P. Ramasamy over the controversial Batu Kawan land deal issue.
Today's proceeding was presided over by Selvaranjini Selvaraja.
The matter will be heard before Sessions Court judge Helmi Ghani. The e-review to update the mediation status is set for tomorrow.
Ramasamy filed a defamation suit against Chow on July 18 last year.
Ramasamy's lawyer, Dr Shamsher Thind Singh, said a new mediation date was fixed as both parties needed to confirm something.
Today is the second round of mediation. The first was on April 14.
After the mediation session, Chow confirmed that the mediation process was ongoing, with the next session scheduled for July 2.
"Today's mediation involved defamation suits stemming from the cancelled land deal between Penang Development Corporation (PDC) and Umech Land Sdn Bhd.
"The first defamation suit was filed by Ramasamy against me, while the second suit was filed by PDC against Ramasamy."
Datuk V. Sithambaram is representing Chow and PDC.
Met later, Ramasamy said: "The mediation process is ongoing. We will await the decision."
Ramasamy filed the defamation suit over a statement on Chow's Facebook page on Oct 3, 2023, which Ramasamy claimed had severely tarnished his reputation.
The post was reproduced by the media and social media users.
Ramasamy, who was deputy chief minister II from 2008 to 2023, claimed Chow's post contained false accusations regarding his involvement in the approval of a deal between PDC and Umech Land.
According to his statement of claims, Ramasamy is seeking damages from Chow to be determined by the court.
He is also seeking a mandatory injunction to force Chow to retract his statements and to issue a public apology.
He is also asking a prohibitory injunction preventing Chow from repeating the alleged defamatory statements, as well as costs.
At the height of the issue, Chow was under fire for the sale of the land after the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce raised questions on the awarding of the project through direct negotiations and why local companies were not given an opportunity in the project.