Najib’s defamatory posting clearly referred to me and my daughter, says Dzulkefly

 

Dzulkefly Ahmad said the screenshot Najib Razak took contained his name, photo and a description of him as a former health minister.

PETALING JAYA: Former health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad, who is suing Najib Razak for defamation, said Najib’s Facebook post two years ago clearly referred to him and his daughter Nurul Iman who was appointed a member of the board of trustees of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia in 2018.

The Kuala Selangor MP said the post alleging nepotism on his part was untrue and that Najib was now making a bare denial regarding the issue even after the full chronology of events had been laid out.

“These facts were within the knowledge of the defendant (Najib) who is a former prime minister, ” he said in his reply to Najib’s defence filed last month.

Najib’s Facebook post was accompanied by a Sinar Harian screenshot (that was published on Jan 28, 2019 – 19 months before Najib’s Facebook posting), with the Pekan MP saying this was to allow the public to fairly assess the issue.

Dzulkefly, in his reply, said the screenshot contained his name, photo and a description of him as a former health minister – all of which clearly referred to him.

“The plaintiff pleads that Najib’s claim is an afterthought to cover his wrong,” Dzulkefly said.

The plaintiff said Najib’s claim that he was only referring to Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the post was baseless because he (Dzulkefly) and the coalition were interrelated and should be seen in a collective manner.

He said Najib defamed him as the Sinar Harian article had said that the appointment of Nurul had nothing to do with him (Dzulkefly).

“The defendant deliberately twisted and spun the article to create an impression that the plaintiff misconducted himself, in order to tarnish his reputation,” he said.

Dzulkefly said the defendant’s conduct was actuated by malice to bring down his reputation in the eyes of the public.

“He acted in a reckless and callous manner without provocation,” he added.

Dzulkefly said Najib was not entitled to the defence of justification, qualified privilege and fair comment as he did not do a fact check before publishing his post.

Najib had said he had no intention of defaming Dzulkefly in the posting made on Aug 14, 2020.

Najib said the post was to highlight the “hypocrisy” of the PH coalition in alleging nepotism and cronyism in political appointments against his political coalition.

It was in reference to (criticism about) appointments to various government-linked companies (GLCs) despite the fact that while PH was in government (from May 2018 to February 2020) it had made appointments of a similar nature, added Najib’s statement.

Dzulkefly filed the suit on Dec 31 last year. He claimed that Nurul’s appointment had been made before he became the health minister in the PH government and that she had been reappointed to the position in the microcredit organisation early last year.

Dzulkefly’s lawyer, Jaden Phoon Wai Ken said judicial commissioner Arief Emran Arifin had directed both parties to file pre-trial documents by May 16.

Another case management will be held on June 20. - FMT