KUALA LUMPUR (March 1): Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak (pictured) is seeking to appoint additional counsel in his RM1.9 million civil suit against the Malaysian government and former attorney-general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas.
He is suing both parties for charges brought against him in criminal cases linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), claiming that Thomas and the then Pakatan Harapan government engaged in “malicious prosecution” and that the charges against him were part of a “long-planned, premeditated exercise”.
Senior Federal Council Shamsul Bolhassan, who is representing the government, told theedgemarkets.com that Najib has asked the court for a two-month extension to appoint additional counsel in the trial.
Najib filed the suit through the law firm of Raj, Ong and Yudistra.
Lawyer Yudistra Darma Dorai confirmed with theedgemarkets.com that Najib may appoint additional counsel for the case but added that nothing has been confirmed yet.
During case management on Tuesday (March 1), the court registrar had fixed April 15 as the next case management date for Najib to inform parties of his additional counsel.
The suit was filed in October last year at the High Court.
Thomas then filed a supporting affidavit in response to Najib’s suit in November, claiming that Najib filed the suit for political reasons, namely for the Melaka elections which took place that month and the next general elections, which must be held by the middle of 2023.
Thomas said Najib’s claims are “unprecedented and without any legal basis, [and] are unsustainable in law” and if allowed, would undermine the powers of public prosecutors.
The ex-AG also filed to strike out the suit, to which Najib responded that their attempt to dismiss his claim was intended to prevent their wrongdoings against the ex-PM from being shared in open court.
On Feb 3, Thomas filed an affidavit in reply to Najib, saying that the latter's claims that he had formed opinions about his guilt were untrue.
“By Najib's logic, only those who knew nothing about such an important national corruption scandal of global standing with massive media publicity and held no personal opinions were fit to charge him. Such assertions have no legal basis."
Thomas added that he had only looked at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's investigation papers against Najib and felt that there was a strong case against the former premier.
He also addressed Najib’s allegations that former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz and her family members had been recipients of 1MDB funds.
Thomas said that he was aware of the probe during his tenure as AG from 2018 to 2020, but there were no “recommendations by investigating authorities or IPs (investigation papers) submitted” to his office to charge them.
He went on to say that whether or not Zeti and her family are charged, it is “irrelevant” to Najib’s charges.
“Another party’s purported guilty conduct does not absolve his own guilt,” he added.
In a separate affidavit in reply to Najib’s suit, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib called Najib’s actions an abuse of the court process done as a "collateral attack" against criminal charges brought against him.
Akram is also part of the prosecution team in the 1MDB-Tanore trial, where Najib is standing trial, and other 1MDB-linked cases.
This story has been amended to say that Najib is appointing additional counsel, and not as reported earlier