Signs Najib will seek to expunge Dr M’s affidavit in support of Ling

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has indicated that he would seek to expunge former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's affidavit in support of former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik's application to strike out the PM's suit.

This comes as there are no signs of mediation to Najib's suit against the former transport minister.

Najib's lawyer Nur Emilia Mohd Izham said his client's application to expunge Mahathir's affidavit will have to be heard first.

"We are seeking to expunge Mahathir's suit as it did not cite where he obtained the facts," she said, pointing out this would indicate how true they were.

"Najib gave consent to us to negotiate a settlement but Ling wanted the PM to be present. Hence, the mediation effort failed," she disclosed.

Najib is also seeking to strike out certain parts of Ling's defence while the former MCA president is trying to strike out Najib's suit.

Nur Emilia said the applications have been fixed for further case management on Wednesday April 6.before Justice John Louis O' Hara.

Freedom of expression

It was reported that Mahathir in his affidavit in support of Ling had questioned why he was accorded the freedom of expression to criticise Najib while Ling is not.

He said he noted the prime minister's reply to Ling's counter-claim that he (Najib) accepted Mahathir's criticism as "… a healthy practice of freedom of expression under the leadership of the plaintiff, as the prime minister of Malaysia".

"The PM is correct (at least on this score). Therefore, it does seem strange to me that I am accorded the right to freedom of expression, but Ling is not," Mahathir said in his affidavit, which also added postings on his blog regarding 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donation allegedly received by Najib.

Najib filed a suit on Ling last October, for defamation, following a report quoting the former MCA president and transport minister as calling for Najib's resignation, over allegations of funds entering into the prime minister's personal bank accounts.

Najib, who is also Umno president, had complained that the words uttered by Ling meant that he had abused his powers, was not qualified to be the leader of a government, that he was involved in a scandalous or financial conspiracy and that he was not fit to be the BN chairperson.

He is seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages from the former MCA president besides a written apology.

The former MCA president's lawyer, Gregory Ling, told reporters last month that among the reasons cited for the striking-out application is that there is no reasonable cause of action and that other people had made similar calls. -Mkini