PERMATANG PAUH: Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (pic) says he will continue to speak up on alleged irregularities of rare earth elements (REE) despite receiving the letter of demand (LOD) from caretaker Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor.
The Pakatan Harapan secretary-general said that he would do so considering that Sanusi did not answer several of his questions on the issue and is raising doubts about the matter.
"This is just the beginning. There will be more exposes on the matter," he said when speaking to reporters during the “Pentas Anak Muda N10 Seberang Jaya” talk, which was also attended by the Deputy Finance Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong on Monday (July 31) night.
On July 28, Saifuddin confirmed receiving the LOD and said that he was prepared to fight in court.
This comes after Sanusi gave Saifuddin a week to issue a public apology and a written promise that he will not repeat statements alleging the former was involved in the theft of REE and had misused Malaysian Records Information System (Marris) state funds.
In a letter of demand (LOD) from Sanusi’s lawyers Messrs Tengku Amalin and Fauzi, the incumbent Jeneri state assemblyman said Saifuddin had made the statements at a speech, at a press conference in Guar Chempedak and in written statements on July 15.
On July 13, Kedah police chief Datuk Fisol Salleh said the police had arrested nine individuals, including four Myanmar nationals for alleged involvement in the smuggling of immigrants to be exploited in the illegal mining of REE in the Bukit Enggang Forest Reserve in Sik.
The nine suspects are aged between 21 and 60 years old and are believed to be the agents in the smuggling of the immigrants.
