KAJANG: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says the authorities will look into a request by Najib Razak’s lawyers for it to order streaming service provider Netflix to take down a documentary on the 1MDB saga.
“They (authorities) will consider it,” he told reporters briefly after Friday prayers here.
Earlier today, law firm Shafee & Co said the documentary, “Man on the Run”, is sub judice and prejudicial to Najib’s defence in his ongoing 1MDB trial.
The documentary revolves around the role of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, in 1MDB. It premiered in local cinemas in October last year and is now available to Netflix subscribers.
Anwar was among those interviewed in the Netflix documentary.
The lawyers claimed that the interviewees made sub judice remarks when interviewed for the documentary, and that the statements they made amounted to contempt of court.
They want communications minister Fahmi Fadzil and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to ensure that the documentary is taken off the air.
They also urged the government to take action against the documentary’s production crew for distributing offensive content.
Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
High-speed rail project
Meanwhile, Anwar said the government has just received a report about a Japanese firm, including East Japan Railway Co, opting out of participating in the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) project ahead of the deadline for the request of information (RFI).
“We will look into it. We just received the report,” he briefly said.
A Japanese news portal called Kyodo News cited government and company sources, saying that the firms initially planned to utilise the shinkansen bullet train system from Japan for the project but deemed it too risky without financial assistance from the Malaysian government.
The RFI deadline for the HSR project, ongoing since July 2023, is next Monday.
Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar previously said he wanted the HSR project to be revived.
Transport minister Loke Siew Fook said the implementation of the HSR project will take into account various factors, especially the country’s financial standing.
