Najib says will sue PKR MP Shamsul Iskandar for defamation over Facebook post on RM2.67b allegation

KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today said he will be filing a defamation lawsuit against PKR’s Hang Tuah Jaya MP Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, over the latter’s Facebook post revolving around allegations on a RM2.67 billion sum.

In a Facebook post today, Najib said Shamsul Iskandar — who is also PKR information chief —had failed to reply to a letter of demand sent out by Najib’s lawyers.

“With this, I have instructed my lawyer to file a defamation lawsuit against Shamsul in court,” Najib said.

In his Facebook post, Najib also attached pages from a letter of demand dated March 1 and sent out by the law firm Shafee & Co to Shamsul Iskandar.

The letter of demand referred to a February 23 Facebook post on Shamsul Iskandar’s Facebook page, which Najib’s lawyers said had amounted to the allegation that their client was in possession and had spent RM2.67 billion in public funds on personal lifestyle and luxurious items.

In the letter of demand, Najib’s lawyers said Shamsul Iskandar’s Facebook post was “false, misleading and factually incorrect”, baseless and without any factual justification, adding: “Accordingly, the post is completely erroneous, false and is deliberately contrived to create a false and misleading picture of our client that he has spent the abovementioned sums belonging to the public on luxurious and lifestyle purchases.”

Najib’s lawyers instead claimed that it has been known since 2015 that the RM2.6 billion sum was received by Najib in his personal account and subsequently returned to its sender, insisting that Najib had at no point in time spent such a sum of money.

In the same letter, Najib’s lawyers told Shamsul Iskandar that he should do three things by 7pm on March 5, if he is unable to justify the February 23 Facebook post with facts.

The three things that Najib’s lawyers demanded Shamsul Iskandar to do by 7pm on March 5 are namely, to make a full and unequivocal written apology and retraction of the February 23 Facebook post, to publish the retraction and apology on his Facebook page and to ensure it gets equal or more prominence as the February 23 Facebook post, and to take down the February 23 Facebook post immediately.

The letter of demand also said that legal proceedings would be initiated against Shamsul Iskandar if he does not provide any satisfactory response, as a lack of such response would result in the assumption that Shamsul Iskandar does not dispute Najib’s claims and that he intends to continue publishing the February 23 Facebook post.

The letter of demand referred to a February 23 Facebook post on Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin’s Facebook page, which Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lawyers said had amounted to the allegation that their client was in possession and had spent RM2.67 billion in public funds on personal lifestyle and luxurious items. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

When contacted, Rahmat Hazlan, a lawyer from the law firm Shafee & Co, confirmed to Malay Mail that the letter of demand as mentioned in Najib’s Facebook post was sent. Rahmat further confirmed that the lawsuit is in the process of being filed by the law firm representing Najib.

“In the letter we specified he is to retract his statement and apologise by 7pm on 5.3.22 failing which suit will be filed.

“Since time has lapsed and there is no retraction and apology, we will file the suit. In process of doing so,” he said.

Lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee when contacted also verified the letter of demand shared by Najib in the Facebook post today, and confirmed to Malay Mail that the lawyers for Najib are preparing the required court papers for the filing of the lawsuit: “We just received instructions so will start preparing the writ.”

Malay Mail has contacted Shamsul Iskandar to ask for a response to Najib’s Facebook post regarding the letter of demand and planned lawsuit.

Shamsul Iskandar told Malay Mail that he would address this matter in his parliamentary debate at the Dewan Rakyat later this evening, with his turn to debate expected to be around 5.30pm.

In his Facebook post today, Najib questioned how he could be said to have stolen RM2.6 billion to be kept and to sustain his lifestyle, arguing among other things that he was not charged with stealing or robbery and claiming that he was charged in court with returning RM2.6 billion after receiving it in his personal bank account.

The February 23 Facebook post on Shamsul Iskandar’s Facebook page carried a poster featuring the faces and names of former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner, fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho and Najib, along with a link to a news report regarding Leissner’s testimony in a US court in the trial of former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng in relation to the 1MDB scandal.