KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak's defence team wants the government to 'take off' a recently aired documentary 'Man on the Run' on Netflix, which tells the story of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial saga.
Najib's lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah described the show which interviewed several high-ranking individuals such as former Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas and current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as extremely sub judice and contemptuous.
The senior lawyer raised this at the outset of Najib's corruption trial for allegedly misappropriating millions of funds belonging to 1MDB before presiding judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
Shafee said Najib had instructed him to file a contempt proceeding against Thomas and file a legal action against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown for her statements in the documentary.
Rewcastle-Brown was one of the whistleblowers who exposed this global-scale financial scandal.
"The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the Home Ministry have the authority to take it (the documentary) off the air," he said.
The one hour and 38 minutes documentary premiered on Netflix on Friday.
It currently holds the fourth position in the Top 10 movies on the platform.
The documentary also includes an interview with Najib before he was sent to Kajang prison following the loss of his final appeal in a corruption case involving SRC International Bhd.
Najib, 70, is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
MORE TO COME.