KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — DAP’s Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz, who is now facing a possible lawsuit and police investigation for allegations he made in his blog about the prime minister’s son-in-law, said today he cannot yet respond to the matter as he has not received a letter of demand.
The Raub MP said, however, that he will cooperate if he is called for an interview with the police, noting that the lawyer for Daniyar Kesikbayev lodged a report on her client’s behalf yesterday.
But unlike the press release on Tuesday, Mohd Ariff Sabri said lawyer Noorhajran Mohd Noor did not seek the removal of the offending article said to have contained the allegations or ask for an apology when she lodged the police report.
“The lawyer asked the police to investigate the source of my information and to have me provide proof.
“I will cooperate with the police and when called, I will provide them with the information I have to best of my ability,” Mohd Ariff Sabri said in a statement.
He said that in the press release from the legal firm on Tuesday, the article in question that was mentioned was one that was posted on the Malaysian Chronicle website and not his blog.
The politician acknowledged, however, that the Malaysian Chronicle article had referred to his original blog post as its source, although he said it was not responsibly done.
He noted that the press release had asked that he remove the article, but stressed that he could not comply with the demand as it was not his right to do so.
“It’s not my portal, I cannot take it down. And because I could not remove it, I could not apologise,” he said.
“I did not receive any letter of demand, whether in my office in Raub or my homes in Raub and Kuala Lumpur. I cannot respond if there is no letter of demand,” he added.
Yesterday, lawyer Noorhajran lodged a police report against Mohd Ariff Sabri, saying her client Daniyar wants an investigation launched against the lawmaker for allegedly making false claims that he was granted a contract on a government property in New York without going through a tender process.
The lawyer said Mohd Ariff Sabri had written “malicious” words that were defamatory against both her client and the prime minister.
In a statement to the media after lodging the report, Noorhajran identified the November 24 article said to be posted by Mohd Ariff Sabri as bearing the title “Faulty Reward System and Changeable Governments”, which she said mentioned a renovation project involving the New York office of Malaysia’s representative to the United Nations.
The same article was posted in full on the same day on news portal Malaysia Chronicle’s website with the title “Son-in Law Daniyar To Be New Jho Low: Disquiet Over Contract To Renovate Govt’s office in New York” and bearing Mohd Ariff Sabri’s name and his link to his blog post, she said.
Claiming that Daniyar’s reputation had been destroyed in less than 24 hours, Noorhajran said her client as a foreigner regretted the alleged accusations against him, which he felt was “unhealthy for the country’s future” if anyone could defame an individual easily.
Daniyar and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s daughter Nooryana Najwa married in March.
