Najib stymied in considering defamation suit

KUALA LUMPUR — The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has stated that it stands by the accuracy of its reporting in July alleging that nearly US$700 million (S$995 million) had been funnelled into Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts from companies linked with troubled state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

“We continue to stand behind our fair and accurate reporting of this evolving story,” a spokesman from Dow Jones & Company — the parent company of the WSJ — said in an email to Malay Mail Online yesterday (Oct 5).

The firm also shared that it had told Mr Najib’s legal team that it would not be revealing its line of defence against any potential lawsuit from the Malaysian Premier.

Last week, one of Mr Najib’s lawyers, Mr Mohd Hafarizam Harun, told reporters that he had sent a letter to Dow Jones to find out if the publisher intends to utilise a particular American statutory law that would have rendered any judgement in a defamation suit mounted by the Premier as unenforceable in the United States.

According to Mr Hafarizam, without a response from Dow Jones on the firm’s planned arguments, he was ­unable to advise Mr Najib on whether the Premier should proceed with his plan to sue the WSJ.

In July, the newspaper reported — ­allegedly from leaked government documents — that up to RM2.6 billion (S$850 million) was deposited from 1MDB-linked companies into Mr ­Najib’s personal bank accounts, two months before the 2013 general election. Mr Najib has repeatedly ­­denied any misappropriation of funds.

Investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission later confirmed that the money had been ­deposited into Mr Najib’s accounts, but stated that the money was a ­political donation from the Middle East, and not from 1MDB as previously alleged.

Mr Najib, who is also Finance Minister and chairman of the 1MDB ­advisory board, has been under ­intense political pressure over the more than RM42 billion of debt the company has racked up.

Increasing global scrutiny over 1MDB has prompted several government agencies to conduct their own investigations.

In September, the WSJ, citing an anonymous source, reported that the American Federal Bureau of Investigation was conducting an investigation into 1MDB over alleged money laundering activities. Earlier that same month, Switzerland’s federal prosecutor said Malaysia had agreed to arrange for Swiss investigators to interview witnesses in their probe of alleged corruption and money laundering related to 1MDB. AGENCIES