KUALA LUMPUR (April 12): The DAP’s Tony Pua said he stands by the video comments he made in which he is being alleged to have defamed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
In a statement April 11, Pua who is DAP national publicity secretary and MP for Petaling Jaya Utara said he had received a letter of demand from Najib, served by his lawyers from Hafarizam Wan & Aisha Mubarak.
“The letter demanded that I retract the statement, remove the video, publicly apologise to the Prime Minister and pay an amount of compensation to be agreed upon within 7 days.
“I have reviewed the 5-minute video published on April 6 and I hereby state that I will standby the comments I have made. Hence I will neither retract the statement, remove the video, publicly apologise to the Prime Minister nor offer to pay any amount of compensation to Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“This is simply because the statements which I have made are grounded on established facts which have not been disputed,” he said.
Pua said that the Sarawak Report and the Wall Street Journal first made the allegation that US$681 million originating from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Ministry of Finance found its way into Najib’s personal bank account with Ambank Malaysia.
“This was subsequently confirmed in evidential documents produced by the United States Department of Justice (US DOJ). In fact, the US DOJ pointed out in their legal filings that the total amount originating from 1MDB and surfaced in the Prime Minister’s bank account was US$731 million.
“It should be noted that Datuk Seri Najib Razak has never publicly disputed or denied the facts presented by the US DOJ since July 2016.
“In addition, the US DOJ has labelled Malaysia as a kleptocracy. The Dictionary.com definition of “kleptocracy” is “a government or state in which those in power exploit national resources and steal; rule by a thief or thieves”,” said Pua.
The Opposition lawmaker said despite the reputational damage inflicted on Malaysia as a result of US DOJ’s suit to seize assets worth approximately US$1 billion acquired with laundered funds originating from 1MDB, the Prime Minister and his Government has refused respond to the highly detrimental allegations.
Pua added that the Prime Minister has steadfastly refused to clarify and respond to the matter in Parliament, despite repeated request by Members of Parliament to do so.
“What’s more, I have also outlined all the facts and evidence of the above misconduct and more, in my civil suit against the Prime Minister for public misfeasance filed in January this year. Datuk Seri Najib Razak doesn’t even have to sue me a second time, he just needs to answer to the charges I have made in my suit to debunk any “fake news” which have purportedly damaged his reputation. Instead, he has chosen to try to strike out my suit with a mind-boggling defense that he “is not a public officer” and hence cannot be subjected to a public misfeasance suit.
“Hence, I can only interpret the Prime Minister’s latest letter of demand, the second I have received from him, is an attempt not to right a wrong, but to silence the truth,” he said.
Pua said just as he never stopped exposing, highlighting and questioning the RM50 billion ringgit 1MDB scandal despite being sued for defamation the first time round in March 2015, he will not be intimidated or frightened from continuing to do the same.
“It is my fervent believe that not only my voters who voted me into office, but an overwhelming majority of Malaysians cannot accept a kleptocratic administration or a Prime Minister who stole billions from the rakyat.
“Therefore, I will doggedly persist and persevere in fighting the democratic cause to free Malaysia from such evils and disease,” said Pua.