KUALA LUMPUR: The president of Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) Datuk Paul Low has been sued for defamation by Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing and Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) over the Malaysia report in Transparency International's Global Corruption Report (GCR) 2009 and media remarks.

Tiong, who is Bintulu MP, is the chief executive officer of KDSB, the turnkey contractor for the controversial RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project.

According to TI-M secretary-general C I Ngooi, the organisation's members in an emergency general meeting on Nov 7 voted to unanimously "stand behind the GCR 2009 and Datuk Paul Low".

Ngooi also said TI-M has established a legal defence fund and urged the public to support it "so that TI-M will not be hampered or deterred in its work that is crucial".

The amount of damages Tiong is suing for is still unknown. In September, Tiong had threatened to sue TI-M and Low for implicating his company KDSB in the GCR 2009.

Low was elected as TI-M president in March this year. In October, he quit his post after receiving heavy criticism over the TI-M report which highlighted the PKFZ scandal. However, TI-M re-elected him on Nov 7.

In June, he was appointed to head the PKFZ Port Klang Authority ad hoc committee on governance, a position he still retains.