Najib sues former A-G over alleged defamation in book

KUALA LUMPUR • Former Malay-sian prime minister Najib Razak has sued former attorney-general Tommy Thomas over allegedly defamatory statements in the senior lawyer's memoir published earlier this year.

Najib claimed that Mr Thomas' book, My Story: Justice In The Wilderness, had defamed him as it allegedly implicated him in the murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Ms Altantuya, who was 28, was shot and her body blown up with explosives in a gruesome murder in 2006 by police commandos. Two men had been convicted of her murder. Both officers were then part of Najib's security detail, but the former premier has consistently denied links to the murder.

Also being sued is the publisher GB Gerakbudaya Enterprise.

The suit was filed at the Shah Alam High Court registry on Wednesday.

Mr Thomas was branded as anti-Malay after the publication of his memoir and caused a furious backlash for perceived insults against the country's majority race.

The book details, among other things, the many racialised controversies that riddled and ultimately destabilised the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government that lasted all of 22 months after its shock victory at the May 2018 election.

Mr Thomas, who is of Indian ethnicity and served during PH's short-lived administration, was the first non-Malay to be appointed the country's top legal adviser.

His memoir has a chapter titled Altantuya, where Najib referred to several paragraphs made by Mr Thomas as defamatory statements.

Najib claimed that earlier this year, Mr Thomas had replied only with a bare denial to a letter of demand sent through law firm Messrs Shafee & Co.

The letter of demand had sought an apology and RM10 million (S$3.24 million) in damages from Mr Thomas over the allegations.

In the letter, Najib gave him until noon on Feb 5 to provide a satisfactory reply, failing which legal proceedings would be initiated. He demanded an apology and an unequivocal public retraction of the alleged defamatory statements in the book's Chapter 42, titled Altantuya.

In the suit, Najib is claiming, among other things, general, aggravated and exemplary or punitive damages against the defendants.

He is seeking an order to remove the passages from the book, a permanent injunction to restrain the defendants either by themselves or through their servants or agents from further publishing any form of the same or similar or related statements.

Najib is also seeking an unqualified apology to be published in at least three major newspapers of his choice for three consecutive days.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK