According to Lim, Tan had said in a report in The Star that he “did not dare deny” claims that he had asked SJK(C) Kuek Ho Yao to change its name as a condition for a RM4 million allocation when he was finance minister.

“This is false. The RM4 million was handed over even though construction had not begun.

“As the finance minister, I had never set the condition that SJK(C) Kuek Ho Yao must change its name to receive the allocation (RM4 million). The Star should pay the price for being a purveyor of fake news,” he said in a statement.

Lim had asked Tan and The Star to retract the report and tender an apology.

He claimed MCA had been spreading lies in its “desperation to regain seats that it had lost in the 2018 general election”.

“I have no choice but to sue in court when these lies are repeatedly, serially and slowly believed by the public because no defamation suit was filed,” he said.

Separately, Lim said he has instructed his lawyers to study the possibility of filing additional defamation suits against those who lied that he had introduced new corporate or income taxes, such as the new tax on Malaysian company profits earned overseas that are brought back to Malaysia.

He said this was false as the corporate tax for small- and medium-sized enterprises was reduced from 18% to 17%, and the taxable income threshold for the 17% was increased by RM100,000 from RM500,000 to RM600,000 when he was the finance minister.

“This new tax was imposed in Budget 2022 and this will heavily impact Malaysian companies operating in Singapore as well as lead to the eventual imposition of tax on income earned by 400,000 Malaysian workers.

“The government has said that the tax on income brought back by Malaysian workers will not be taxed for the time being. However, as there cannot be one country, two systems, the tax on such income by Malaysian workers earned in Singapore will be imposed after the 15th general election,” he said.