PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Razak wants to initiate legal action against PKR Information chief Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin for alleged defamation.
“I have ordered my lawyers to initiate a defamation suit against Shamsul,” the former prime minister said in a Facebook post Thursday (Feb 24).
Najib was refering to a screenshot of a Facebook post by Shamsul although he did not clearly spell out the reason why he was taking legal action.
The post in question is a poster of Najib, former Goldman Sachs partner Tim Leissner and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, who are at the centre of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) corruption scandal.
The poster also indicated that the money of the Malaysian public had been used to fund the lavish lifestyle of Najib and his friends.
Shamsul, who is also the former deputy primary industries minister, also went on to question why there were people who still defended a person who had been deemed a “national embarrassment.”
In his post, Najib reiterated that he had returned the RM2.6bil that 1MDB is seeking to recover from him.
He claimed that the money, which was deposited into his account, had been returned to the donor, four months after it was credited to him.
“Therefore, how did I use the RM2.6bil to fund my lifestyle?” the Pekan MP asked.
He said the Opposition continued to ride on the “propaganda” that he had stolen the RM2.6bil to “buy rings and handbags”, despite court evidence.
He said he was charged under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act and not robbery and the money has been returned to the source.
Najib had reportedly filed an application on Feb 18 to set aside a Mareva injunction obtained by 1MDB and one of its subsidiaries from the High Court to freeze his assets in relation to their claim of US$681mil (RM2.86bil) linked to 1MDB.
The injunction order also limits Najib to only withdraw a maximum of RM100,000 monthly.