No order from Najib to sue WSJ yet, lawyer confirms

KUALA LUMPUR — Prime Minister Najib Razak has yet to instruct his legal team to file a lawsuit against Wall Street Journal (WSJ) over two of its articles last month on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy, his lawyer has confirmed.

As such, Mr Wan Azmir Wan Majid, who is from the law firm representing Mr Najib, confirmed with Malay Mail Online that the prime minister’s lawyers have not made any move against the US-based publication’s publisher Dow Jones & Co.

“It's still status quo. We have not gotten instructions,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

In an article on July 2, WSJ, citing documents from Malaysian investigators scrutinising 1MDB’s financials, said a money trail showed that US$700 million ( S$967 million) had been channelled into what appeared to be the prime minister’s accounts.

The report said, however, that the source of the funds was unknown although it noted that it was the first time that Mr Najib had been linked to the probe on the troubled state investor.

WSJ's July 2 report and a subsequent July 6 opinion piece on the same matter saw Mr Najib's lawyers later asking the publication to clarify if the two articles had meant to accuse their client of misappropriating US$700 million from 1MDB.

Dow Jones responded within the 14-day deadline given by the prime minister’s lawyers, saying in their reply letter that the request for clarification was unnecessary as the two articles ― the July 2 news report titled “Malaysia leader’s accounts probed” and the opinion piece on July 6 titled “Scandal in Malaysia” — spoke for themselves and were based on available facts.

Since Dow Jones' reply on July 21, there has been no update from Mr Najib’s team on the prime minister’s next course of action.

On July 25, however, local newspaper Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily quoted an unnamed lawyer as saying that Mr Najib's lawyers Mr Hafarizam Wan Harun and MrFiroz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin were expected to fly to the US to file the lawsuit there against the Dow Jones.

When asked to verify the Sin Chew Daily report, Mr Wan Azmir said he could only confirm that the duo went abroad, but declined to disclose the purpose of their trip or which country they had flown to.

“It's true that my partner (Mr Hafarizam) and Firoz went overseas. I cannot confirm where, I cannot confirm what,” he said.

When asked if the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission's (MACC) statement on Monday (Aug 3) would change his client's plan to file the lawsuit, Mr Wan Azmir said he could not comment as he has yet to receive instructions on the matter.

In its statement, the MACC had confirmed the existence of the RM2.6 billion (S$927.6 million) deposit in Mr Najib's accounts, but said the money came from donors and not 1MDB.

It did not specify who the donors were.

A special taskforce — comprising Bank Negara Malaysia, the Royal Malaysian Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Attorney-General’s Chambers — are currently investigating 1MDB and the claims in the WSJ report.

After WSJ’s July 2 bombshell, Mr Najib immediately responded by saying that he has never taken 1MDB money for “personal gain”.

The embattled prime minister had also categorised the allegations as “political sabotage” and accused his former mentor-turned-chief critic Dr Mahathir Mohamad of colluding with foreign media to unseat him. MALAY MAIL ONLINE