Umno lawyers preparing lawsuit against WSJ publishers

PETALING JAYA: Umno lawyers are in the midst of preparing their case against Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), over its report implicating Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in an alleged RM2.6bil money trail before filing a suit in the United States.

It is reliably learnt that the lawyers are also consulting New York-based lawyers who specialise in defamation cases.

"We are still preparing the legal work before we send our letters to Dow Jones," a source said.

On Friday, the international business daily published an article quoting an "unnamed investigator", claiming that almost US$700mil (RM2.6bil) of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds flowed into the Prime Minister's personal accounts before the 13th general election.

1MDB refuted the claim, while Najib denied taking any funds for personal gain and accused former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for being responsible over the latest "lie".

On Saturday, Najib's political secretary reportedly said that the Prime Minister would sue WSJ, describing the accusation thrown against him as "criminal defamation".

The WSJ had since stood by its report. The international business daily said it possessed "solid" documents to back its claim.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail confirmed that he had seen the documents relating to the case.

He also said a special multi-agency taskforce had raided companies linked to 1MDB, namely SRC International Sdn Bhd, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd and Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd, which were said to have channelled the funds into what is believed to be Najib's personal bank accounts.