Kuala Lumpur: The trial of Najib Razak’s defamation suit over alleged defamatory statements contained in Tommy Thomas’s memoir, “My Story: Justice in the Wilderness”, is set to commence in September next year.
Counsel Haikaldin Mahyidin, who represented the former attorney-general, said court deputy registrar Norliza Hussin scheduled the trial to take place on Sept 6 and 9 and Oct 11, during case management today.
He said Norliza also gave direction for both parties to file their case summaries, lists of witnesses, and a chronology of events before the next case management on April 29.
Lawyer Sarah Abishegam appeared for the former prime minister, while Lee Chia Yee represented publisher GB Gerakbudaya Enterprise Sdn Bhd.
In his suit filed on Oct 27, 2021, Najib sought unspecified damages and wanted various alleged defamatory statements Thomas made removed.
In the statement of claim, he said most readers going through Chapter 43, titled “Altantuya”, would easily identify him as the person said to be criminally linked to the murder of Mongolian interpreter Altantuya Shaariibuu.
The filing said the book, published by Gerakbudaya, was distributed both locally and internationally.
It said numerous extracts, including the impugned statements, were lifted from the book, published and republished on the internet, various blog sites, websites and media posts.
In the filing, Najib said the defendants published the book without making any attempt to verify the information or afford him an opportunity to comment.
By clear inference and innuendo, he said, Thomas had conveyed the message that Najib was associated with former policemen Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azahar Umar, who were convicted of Altantuya’s murder.
The statement of claim also said the book inferred that Najib had a hidden agenda to kill Altantuya, and had instructed Azirah and Sirul to eliminate her.
Azilah and Sirul were sentenced to death in 2015, nine years after they killed and blew up her body using explosives in a forest near Shah Alam.
However, Razak Baginda, a former confidante of Najib, was acquitted without his defence being called.
In his defence filed on Dec 2, 2021, Thomas denied defaming Najib. He also said he would rely on the defences of fair comment, justification and qualified privilege.
He said the contents in Chapter 42 were what Azilah and Sirul said in court documents filed in a Federal Court review application in 2019.
