Najib’s lawyers urge govt to order 'prejudicial' Netflix documentary taken down
Published on: Friday, January 12, 2024
By: FMT
Najib Razak is on trial for alleged abuse of power and laundering of RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds.
PETALING JAYA: Lawyers for Najib Razak have requested that the government order streaming service provider Netflix to take down a documentary on the 1MDB saga.
Law firm Shafee & Co said “Man on the Run”, which was written and directed by Cassius Michael Kim, is sub judice and prejudicial to Najib’s defence in his ongoing 1MDB trial.
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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.
“Those statements made by the interviewees (in the documentary) were also a form of contempt of court,” the law firm said.
The lawyers claimed that several personalities have made sub judice remarks on the show, including former attorney general Tommy Thomas, former US ambassador to Malaysia John Mallett, Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle Brown, former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officers Charles O’ Neal and David Smith, former Damansara MP Tony Pua and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
They want communications minister Fahmi Fadzil and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Communications (MCMC) to ensure that the documentary is taken off the air.
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They also urged the government to take action against Kim’s production crew for distributing offensive content.
On Monday, lead defence counsel Shafee Abdullah complained to the High Court about the documentary and said his legal team intended to ask the government to intervene in the matter.
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In 2021, then communications and multimedia minister Annuar Musa said Malaysia’s existing laws cannot be applied to those providing online streaming services as well as companies operating from overseas.
However, he said the government was prepared to engage with service providers to review the airing of content considered “extremely inappropriate” to Malaysian audiences.
Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited in his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The hearing before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah continues.
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