KUALA LUMPUR (March 31): Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he was merely defending the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition in highlighting Pakatan Harapan (PH)'s hypocrisy in alleging nepotism, cronyism and political appointments with regards to posts made in government-linked companies (GLCs).
Najib in his defence to a defamation suit by former health minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said PH had criticised PN in 2020 over such allegations of nepotism and cronyism.
“I deny the words referred to [in my Facebook] are on Dr Dzulkefly and were defamatory on him.
“The defendant (Najib) was highlighting the hypocrisy in the PH coalition for alleging nepotism, cronyism, and political appointments in the defendant's PN coalition at that time regarding the appointments to various GLCs despite the fact that while PH was in government, appointments of similar nature were made without protest or like allegations of PH,” Najib said in his defence.
The former BN chairman said this in his defence filed by Messrs Shafee & Co on Tuesday (March 29) in response to Dr Dzulkefly's defamation suit.
Dr Dzulkefly, who is also Kuala Selangor member of Parliament, had filed the defamation suit last December, and the court had allowed him to amend his statement of claim earlier this month.
The former health minister filed the suit following Najib's Facebook post which alleged that the Amanah politician practised nepotism to ensure his daughter Nurul Iman's appointment as a board member of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) in 2019.
He had denied such suggestions and said his daughter's appointment had nothing to do with him holding a post as a minister and that Nurul Iman's continued appointment to the AIM board shows her own credibility and capability to hold the post.
A case management was done on Wednesday (March 30) before High Court Deputy Registrar Nurul Izzah Hasan Basri via e-review, where Nurul Izzah instructed Dr Dzulkefly's solicitor Datuk N Sankara Nair to file a reply to the defence by April 13.
The next case management for the matter is on April 14.
Najib in his defence further denied there is defamation against Dr Dzulkefly as the former health minister had claimed, as the former PM said the Facebook posting does not relate to the PH minister.
The defence, however, meant that Dr Dzulkefly is a hypocrite for allowing or condoning the perceived acts of nepotism, cronyism and political appointments during PH time and not denouncing such acts, Najib said.
The Pekan MP also pleaded the defence of justification in making the comment as he alleged Dzulkefly had remained quiet despite his daughter's appointment in AIM.
The former Umno president further denied the post does not relate to Dr Dzulkefly or contain the defamatory meaning as alleged by the Amanah leader.
In pleading the defence of qualified privilege, Najib further said he himself and Dr Dzulkefly are required to provide checks and balances towards the opposing party, as a means to prevent abuse and promote good governance.
Najib also claimed that the posting is a fair comment as it was not to impute actual guilt of nepotism, and cronyism by Dr Dzulkefly but rather on hypocrisy by the PH alliance and government for not criticising Nurul Iman's appointment.
“For this reason, we pray that Dr Dzulkefly's claim is dismissed with costs,” he added.
Besides the suit on Najib, Dr Dzulkefly also filed a similar suit on Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki pertaining to a similar posting which the politician made on twitter.