Najib to sue PKR info chief over RM2.6b 1MDB theft claim
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has instructed his lawyers to file a defamation action against PKR information chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin.
The BN advisory board chairperson declared his intent in a post on his Facebook account today.
Last month, the media reported that...
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has instructed his lawyers to file a defamation action against PKR information chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin.
The BN advisory board chairperson declared his intent in a post on his Facebook account today.
Last month, the media reported that the Pekan MP stated his intention to sue Shamsul (above) over the Hang Tuah Jaya MP’s post involving 1MDB.
Through an FB post on Feb 23, Shamsul made an allegation about Malaysians' money being used to support the lifestyle of Najib and his alleged accomplices.
The online posting was also accompanied by pictures of Najib, fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, and former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner.
As a star prosecution witness during the 1MDB-linked trial of former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng before a New York court in the United States, Leissner has made a series of explosive allegations involving Najib, Low and several other personalities.
In his FB post today, Najib claimed that Shamsul failed to abide by the former’s letter of demand issued against the latter.
“With this, I have directed my lawyer to file at court a defamation suit against Shamsul,” the former finance minister said.
The former Umno president contended that the opposition (of which Shamsul is a part of) refused to accept court evidence while purportedly spewing propaganda alleging that he (Najib) committed theft of RM2.6 billion to buy jewellery and handbags.
CSR work, not for personal use
Najib claimed that they refused to admit that he was charged at the Malaysian court under the Anti-Money Laundering Act and not for theft or robbery (like their leader in a tunnel case) and the money was later returned to the sender.
He alleged that they refused to admit that he was charged with nine counts of receiving RM2.6 billion and also charged with seven counts of returning the money four months after it was deposited in a bank account under his name.
Najib also claimed that they refused to admit that Arab Saudi’s finance ministry had allegedly transferred at least RM642 million into his account that was later utilised for corporate social responsibility (CSR) work and not for personal use.
He claimed that the CSR work included flood relief efforts over a four-year period.
“So how can I (be alleged) to) have rompak (robbed) RM2.6 billion to be kept and ‘support the lifestyle’ (tampung gaya hidup) of mine,” Najib claimed in his online post.
Malaysiakini is attempting to reach out to Shamsul over the matter.
Before the Kuala Lumpur High Court, Najib is on trial for four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB’s funds.
1MDB is fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).
Besides being the former premier, the accused also used to be finance minister and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers.
The prosecution contended that Low, on the behest of Najib, had acted with several other 1MDB personnel to misappropriate billions of ringgit of funds from the sovereign wealth fund and, via a circuitous and complex financial route, to transfer part of the funds to the then premier’s account.
However, the defence team contended that Najib had no knowledge about wrongdoing at 1MDB and that the whole affair was masterminded completely by Low and several other members of the sovereign wealth fund.
