KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — The Court of Appeal today allowed former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to be brought out from Kajang prison to attend a hearing next week on his appeal to reinstate his lawsuit against former attorney general (AG) Tan Sri Tommy Thomas.
Najib’s lawyer Daniel Annamalai from the firm Raj, Ong & Yudistra confirmed this, following the Court of Appeal’s hearing this morning of Najib’s application to attend the court proceedings.
“The court granted the order to produce Datuk Seri Najib from prison to appear for his appeal hearing on October 4, 2023,” he told Malay Mail when contacted.
The Court of Appeal panel was chaired by judge Datuk S. Nantha Balan, and composed of Datuk Azimah Omar and Mohamed Zaini Mazlan.
Najib had in October 2021 filed the lawsuit against Thomas, but the High Court had in November 2022 allowed Thomas to strike out the lawsuit.
The Court of Appeal’s October 4 hearing will be on Najib’s appeal against the High Court’s striking out of the lawsuit.
On October 26, 2021, Najib sued Thomas and the Malaysian government for the 35 criminal charges against him in four trials, claiming that the then attorney general had allegedly abused his powers to prosecute him.
The four cases are Najib’s trial involving 25 charges over the misappropriation of RM2.28 billion of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds; a criminal breach of trust case involving RM6.6 billion government funds; a case involving alleged power abuse over amendments to the auditor-general’s 1MDB audit report; and a money-laundering case involving ex-1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd’s RM27 million funds.
Those four cases do not include Najib’s seven charges involving SRC’s RM42 million, which is the case where he was found guilty of and which resulted in his current imprisonment.
In his suit, Najib is seeking a declaration that Thomas had committed misfeasance in public office, and RM1,941,988 (or RM1.9 million) to compensate for the alleged losses that he had suffered so far, general damages, exemplary damages and aggravated damages.
On September 8, 2022, Najib dropped the Malaysian government as a defendant in the lawsuit, but continued his bid to seek RM1.9 million compensation from Thomas over the alleged wrongful prosecution.
On November 25, 2022, the High Court allowed Thomas’s application to strike out Najib’s lawsuit against him.
