Crime & Courts

(Update) Najib withdraws defamation suit against Tony Pua

KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today withdrew his defamation suit against Damansara MP Tony Pua Kiam Wee and Mediarakyat.net portal owner Chan Chee Kong, over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

Najib’s lawyer, Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun, told reporters that his client had instructed him to withdraw the suit and that he has agreed to drop legal action on undisclosed terms.

"Lawyers for the defendants agreed with our withdrawal application with no liberty to file afresh,” he said after meeting High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim in his chambers when the case came up for mention this morning.

Mohd Hafarizam also said the judge allowed the application to withdraw the suit and then struck out the legal action.

Pua’s lawyer, Michelle Ng, and Chan’s counsel, Shahid Adli Kamarudin, confirmed the matter.

The High Court had set Sept 18 to 20 to hear the suit.

Najib had filed the defamation suit in his personal capacity on March 5, 2015, naming Pua as the first defendant and Chan as the second defendant, over the 1MDB issue.

In his statement of claim, Najib as the plaintiff, stated that on Nov 13, 2014, Pua, as the main speaker at a DAP fund-raising dinner, had made libellous remarks related to 1MDB.

Najib said a recording of the speech was uploaded by Chan himself and/or his agents to the Mediarakyat website and YouTube channel under what he claimed was a libellous heading.

He said the recorded speech contained defamatory words that referred to him.

Najib contended that the publication of the defamatory words had damaged his reputation, as the recording of the speech could be accessed widely and easily throughout the world via the Internet without any restriction and could be re-shared.

This is the second suit withdrawal by Najib after he retracted his suit against former MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik on May 22 over the publication of an article in a news portal which alleged that the former prime minister abused funds belonging to 1MDB. — BERNAMA

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