Book didn't criminally link Najib to Altantuya murder - Tommy

 

A memoir made no criminal link between former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and the murder of Mongolian (national) Altantuya Shaariibuu, contended former attorney-general Tommy Thomas.

In a statement of defence against Najib’s defamation suit, the former government top lawyer claimed that the alleged defamatory statements were actually narrating about Thomas’s role in obtaining fresh evidence linked to the 2006 killing.

"The impugned statements, having regard to their true meaning and purport, do not criminally link the plaintiff (Najib) to the murder of Altantuya as a fact.

“The impugned statements narrate the role of the first defendant (Thomas) as public prosecutor in receiving new evidence surrounding the murder.

“Further, the statement of claim does not identify the actual part of the impugned statements that allegedly contain defamatory meaning in reference to the plaintiff (which is denied),” Thomas contended in the statement of defence against Najib’s defamation suit.

On Oct 27, it was reported that Najib filed the defamation action 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.

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak

According to the statement of defence sighted by Malaysiakini, Thomas contended that 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 said 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.

“By virtue of the plaintiff’s previous high public office, he is precluded or barred in law from suing for defamation.

“Further, the impugned statements relate to acts of the plaintiff in his then official capacity as defence minister and/or deputy prime minister of Malaysia, and involved persons working closely with him.

“The plaintiff’s claim is also a violation of the first defendant’s right to freedom of speech and expression provided for in article 10(1)(a) of the Federal Constitution,” Thomas argued.

'In public interest'

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”.

The former top government lawyer also claimed that the impugned statements have not lowered Najib in the eyes of right-thinking members of society, because the former premier’s reputation was already allegedly adversely affected due to media and public discourse over the Altantuya case.

Thomas then made reference to past media reports over the controversial 2009 statutory declaration (SD) incident of the late private investigator P Balasubramaniam.

On July 3, 2009, Balasubraniam publicly revealed the SD which alleged personalities other than Azilah and Sirul Azhar being involved in the Mongolian’s murder.

However a day later, it was widely reported that Balasubramaniam made a second SD which retracted the allegations in the first document. The public investigator passed away in 2013.

Thomas also referred to the civil action by the deceased’s family against Najib and several others, in relation to alleged machinations to engineer the SD U-turn.

However, Najib and several others previously succeeded in getting the court to remove their names from the family’s suit, leaving only carpet businessman Deepak Jaikishan as the sole defendant.

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 suit against Thomas. He also has filed a wrongful prosecution suit against Thomas and the government. - Mkini