KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lawyer today said he is unable to give an expected timeline for his client’s decision on whether the latter will sue the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun said he was also personally handling several court cases and had yet to meet Najib over the WSJ matter.
“But a decision will have to be made soon. I don’t have the timeline. I can’t give a timeline for now,” he told reporters today.
On November 2, Najib’s lawyers said they will advise their client to file a defamation lawsuit against WSJ in Malaysia instead of in the US, but reiterated that they are waiting for the US paper’s publisher Dow Jones & Co to confirm whether it will invoke a US legal immunity against the enforcement of defamation suit decisions by courts outside the US.
Dow Jones had in the past said Najib’s lawyers request for clarification over their two July 2015 articles were unnecessary, stating that the July 2 news report titled “Malaysia leader’s accounts probed” and the July 6 opinion piece titled “Scandal in Malaysia” spoke for themselves and were based on available facts.
