Umno lawyers preparing lawsuit against WSJ

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.

Apparently, the lawyers are also consulting New York-based lawyers who specialise in defamation suits.

“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 of 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 of being responsible for the latest “lie”.

Najib’s political secretary reportedly said the Prime Minister would sue WSJ, describing the accusation as “criminal defamation”.

WSJ stood by its report. The 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 task force 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 WSJ claimed were Najib’s personal bank accounts.