Najib mulling contempt bid against Tommy Thomas
Najib Abdul Razak is mulling initiating contempt action against former attorney-general Tommy Thomas over disclosures in the latter’s controversial memoir.
The former prime minister’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah confirmed today that they were looking into possible contempt of court action.
Najib Abdul Razak is mulling initiating contempt action against former attorney-general Tommy Thomas over disclosures in the latter’s controversial memoir.
The former prime minister’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah confirmed today that they were looking into possible contempt of court action.
The lawyer explained that the proposed contempt bid was in relation to statements in the memoir linked to the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Previously, it was reported that Najib would file a defamation suit against Thomas if he did not withdraw the memoir entitled My Story: Justice in the Wilderness.
While speaking to the media outside the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex this afternoon, Shafee confirmed that Najib’s legal team is looking into sending a show-cause letter to Thomas concerning the proposed contempt of court bid.
Under the law, a party needs to first send a show-cause letter in regards to any proposed contempt action. If the other party does not respond to the show cause letter or gives an unsatisfactory reply, only then can one proceed with the filing of a contempt action.
Shafee today said that the memoir’s disclosure related to Altantuya’s case amounted to an insult of the judiciary because Najib has never been implicated in any related court cases.
The lawyer pointed out that in the Altantuya murder trial that saw former police commandos Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar’s conviction, the court never implicated Najib over the matter.
Shafee also referred to the recent Federal Court decision to dismiss Azilah’s application to review the former cop’s conviction and death sentence over Altantuya’s murder.
“Here, the (Altantuya) cases have even gone through reviews (at the Federal Court), but it was lost (dismissed), and Najib was never implicated,” he said.
The lawyer alleged that Thomas’ disclosure in the memoir amounted to a direct attack on the court despite the outcome of Altantuya’s murder trial.
Shafee added that there is a 98 percent chance of them initiating the contempt proceedings by sending the show cause letter to Thomas.
Meanwhile, about the defamation suit against Thomas, the lawyer said that the legal team is looking at filing it by Friday this week.
He said this is because they are still fine-tuning the defamation suit.
The planned suit is on the heels of Najib’s letter of demand for Thomas to retract the memoir in which contained allegation related to the murder of Altantuya.
In a legal notice issued to the former attorney-general, Najib’s lawyer Shafee said his client also wanted RM10 million in damages and an “unqualified apology in terms to be approved by the solicitors”.
Thomas was given until Feb 5 to do so. Failing which, Shafee said that a defamation suit would be filed against Thomas.
Since the publication of the book, it has garnered brickbats from multiple quarters.
Besides Najib who intends to file a defamation suit, Thomas’ predecessor Mohamed Apandi Ali and former solicitor-general III Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria have lodged police reports over the issue.
The police have received over a hundred police reports over the memoir, with investigations being carried out by the Classified Criminal Investigation Unit.
The police probe is being done under Section 500 of the Penal Code for defamation, Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act 1972, and Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948.
It was reported that the Home Ministry is scrutinising the contents, raising the possibility that the book could be banned.
Thomas’ successor Idrus Harun had also criticised the book, calling it an “insult to the institution of law”.
Thomas’ lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo said that her client has pledged to cooperate in investigations.
Najib files appeal to recuse Sri Ram from 1MDB audit case
Meanwhile, Shafee also confirmed that they had filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal to disqualify former federal court judge Gopal Sri Ram from prosecuting Najib’s 1MDB audit report tampering trial.
The lawyer said this in relation to the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision yesterday to dismiss Najib’s application to oust Sri Ram from the prosecution team in the former premier’s 1MDB audit report case.
Shafee claimed that the appeal is bolstered by disclosure in Thomas’ book in relation to Sri Ram’s appointment as DPP.
The lawyer alleged that the disclosure pointed to the appointment of the DPP not only for prosecution but also for investigation, which he contended is not legally valid.
Najib’s recusal bid is concerning his ongoing 1MDB audit report tampering trial, where he is charged with using his position to order amendments to the sovereign wealth fund’s final audit report before it was presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), in order to prevent any action against him.
Co-accused and former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy was charged with abetting Najib in making the amendments.
The charges are framed under Section 23 (1) of the MACC Act 2009, which specifies a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of no less than five times the amount of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction.
Najib previously filed multiple unsuccessful bids at separate courts to recuse Sri Ram from prosecuting in the former’s 1MDB-linked criminal cases.
Among the legal bids was the one on Aug 28 last year, where the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Najib’s judicial review application that sought to disqualify Sri Ram from prosecuting in these trials.
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