Najib’s defamation suit against ex-AG to be heard next year

Najib Abdul Razak’s defamation suit against former attorney-general Tommy Thomas over allegations linked to the 2006 murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu would come up for hearing for seven days beginning Sept 12 next year.

The former prime minister’s counsel Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee confirmed that the Shah Alam High Court today set the hearing dates.

“The matter is fixed for a full hearing before judge Khadijah Idris on Sept 12 to 14, Sept 26, and Nov 21 to 23,” the lawyer told Malaysiakini.

On Oct 27 last year, it was reported that former finance minister Najib filed a defamation suit against Thomas and the company that published the former AG’s memoir, 'My Story: Justice in the Wilderness'.

In his statement of claim, Najib alleged that Thomas has suggested in the book that the former premier directly associated himself with Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar in the murder of Altantuya.

Azilah and Sirul Azhar were two former Special Action Unit commandos sentenced to death by the Federal Court over Altantuya’s murder.

However, Sirul Azhar has since fled to Australia, which refuses to extradite him as he faced the death penalty in Malaysia.

Najib contended that Thomas, through the book, had insinuated that the former was guilty of conspiracy to murder Altantuya, allegedly misled the rakyat over the episode and was therefore unfit to hold political or any office.

He also claimed that Thomas had written in his book that the former had an agenda to murder Altantuya and had allegedly illegally influenced Sirul Azhar while the latter was in detention in Australia.

Statement of defence

On Dec 2 last year, it was reported that Thomas - via his statement of defence - contended that his memoir made no criminal link between Najib and the murder of Altantuya.

Thomas, who is now in private practice, claimed that the alleged defamatory statements were actually narrating about his role in obtaining fresh evidence linked to the 2006 killing.

The defendant also contended that plaintiff Najib is barred under law from suing the former attorney-general for defamation as the latter used to hold the post of prime minister.

Thomas alleged that this is because the alleged defamatory statements in the book referred to Najib’s acts when the latter was still in office as deputy premier and later premier.

He contended that the impugned statements constituted fair comment on a matter of public interest over the circumstances surrounding Altantuya’s murder.

Thomas argued that the statements in the book were protected by qualified privilege as they were made “in the public interest, in good faith, and believing it to be true and without malice”.

Through the defamation suit against Thomas and the book publisher, Najib is seeking unspecified damages at an interest rate of five percent per annum from the filing of the suit and an apology.

He also seeks the removal of allegedly libellous words and passages from the book, as well as a permanent injunction against either Thomas or publisher Gerak Budaya from further publishing similar statements.

This is Najib's second civil suit against Thomas. He also had a wrongful prosecution suit against Thomas, which the Kuala Lumpur High Court struck out today.

Thomas is represented by counsel from his law firm.

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