KUALA LUMPUR • The son-in-law of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has challenged an opposition MP to prove his claim that a "deal was inked" by the PM in September over a government office in New York.

Mr Daniyar Kesikbayev, who is married to Datuk Seri Najib's daughter, Ms Nooryana Najwa, also filed a police report against the Democratic Action Party's Mr Mohd Ariff Sabri over a post put up on his blogon Tuesday.

Mr Mohd Ariff's blog post appeared as an article on the Malaysia Chronicle portal on the same day. It claimed that the building for Malaysia's permanent representative to the United Nations in New York would undergo multimillion-dollar renovation works soon.

In his post, Mr Mohd Ariff alleged that project was to be given to Mr Kesikbayev and that "the deal was inked" while Mr Najib was in New York in September.

He also claimed that the "Malaysian developer style of business deal" was applied, whereby "the developer gets 80 per cent, the owner gets 20 per cent".

Mr Kesikbayev's lawyer, Ms Noorhajran Mohd Noor, told reporters at the police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday: "My client has challenged Mohd Ariff Sabri to present evidence of his claims that the deal was inked by the Prime Minister. He is also urged to explain where he got this information.

"Not only has Mohd Ariff Sabri defamed my client, he also defamed the Prime Minister in his blog post."

Mr Kesikbayev has demanded that the article be taken down immediately and that an apology be made.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK