PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Najib Razak has been told to file his defence by Feb 17 in a libel suit filed against him by former health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad.
According to a report by The Edge Markets, the Kuala Lumpur High Court senior assistant registrar Nurul Izzah Hasan Basri directed Dzulkefly’s lawyers during case management today to file a reply to Najib’s defence by March 3.
She also fixed March 4 for further case management.
Dzulkefly filed a RM5 million libel suit against Najib on Dec 31 last year over Najib’s Facebook post alleging that the former health minister practised nepotism that saw his daughter, Nurul Iman, being appointed a board member of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia in 2019.
In his statement of claim, Dzulkefly alleged that the former prime minister had defamed him with the allegation made in the Facebook post on Aug 24, 2020, which he said was reported by a Malay daily.
While the Kuala Selangor MP had denied the nepotism allegation, he said Najib’s post was still on his Facebook page as of November 2021.
Dzulkefly said he had sent a notice of demand through his lawyers to Najib in January last year, to which Najib’s legal representative responded in February that the Pekan MP had done nothing wrong, prompting the libel suit.
Dzulkefly also claimed that Nurul Iman’s appointment was made before he became health minister in the Pakatan Harapan government and that she was reappointed or retained for the position in the microcredit organisation early last year.
“Najib with malice and mala fide libellously made the allegations without verification, resulting in his posting to be shared 970 times by his followers.
“The Facebook post was edited six times and this shows that he planned its publication to defame me,” said Dzulkefly. - FMT
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