Najib to sue PKR info chief for defamation after letter of demand goes unanswered

PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is suing PKR information chief Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin for defamation after the latter failed to respond to a letter of demand from his lawyer.

Najib said he had instructed his lawyer to file the suit in court following Shamsul Iskandar's failure to retract, correct and apologise for claiming that Najib had stolen RM2.6bil in 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds to support his lifestyle.

“With this, I have instructed my lawyer to file a defamation suit against Shamsul Iskandar in court,” he said in a Facebook post on Monday (March 7).

He denied Shamsul’s claims and said that despite what had been proven in court, the Opposition "gang" continued with its propaganda that he had allegedly stolen RM2.6bil to purchase rings and handbags.

“They will not admit that I have been sued under Amla(Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001) and neither stolen nor robbed (from 1MDB), and the funds have been returned to the sender.

“That I was charged with nine counts of receiving the alleged RM2.6bil funds and also charged with seven counts of returning the funds to the sender four months after it was deposited into the account in my name.

“That the Saudi Arabian Finance Ministry transferred at least RM642mil to an account in my name which was then used for CSR work, including flood relief for four consecutive years, and not for my personal use,” he wrote.

He then asked how it was possible for him to rob RM2.6bil to maintain and "cover his lifestyle".

Shamsul Iskandar, the Hang Tuah Jaya MP, had in February posted on Facebook a graphic showing Najib, former Goldman Sachs partner Tim Leissner and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, who are at the centre of the 1MDB scandal.

The graphic allegedly implied that the money of the Malaysian public had been used to fund Najib and his friends' lavish lifestyles.

Shamsul, also a former deputy primary industries minister, went on to question why there were people who still defended someone who had been deemed a “national embarrassment.”