GANT1 withdraws application for leave to appeal in lawsuit against Najib

PUTRAJAYA: Ten members of the Gerakan Anak Muda Tolak Najib (GANT1) have withdrawn their applications for leave to appeal at the Federal Court against a Court of Appeal’s decision in allowing an application by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and two others to strike out their lawsuit.

The GANT1 members, headed by Parti Amanah Negara Youth deputy chief Muhammad Faiz Fadzil Noor, had filed the suit in July last year over payments by 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).

They named Najib, 1MDB and the government as the defendants.

The lawsuit was over a consent award at the London Court of International Arbitration entered by 1MDB with IPIC concerning 1MDB’s alleged USD$3.5bil bond assistance from IPIC and its subsidiary Aabar Investment PJS (Aabar Asli) for the purchase of an energy plant.

The matter came up for case management before Federal Court senior assistant registrar Intan Syafinaz Ros’lin yesterday.

GANT1 lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla said they had notified the registrar of the withdrawal of all the notices of motion without costs.

He said his clients had decided to withdraw their applications for reasons that at the time GANT1 filed the civil lawsuit in 2016, all enforcement and regulatory bodies were crippled under the previous government.

Mohamed Haniff Khatri said with the government now under a new administration, all agencies were re-investigating the IPIC-1MDB matter.

He said the new 1MDB board members had also announced its intention for necessary action to be taken against the previous board members.

Attending the case management before the registrar were lawyer Nur Dalila Husna Azmi who appeared for GANT1, lawyer Nik Alia Hanafi for Najib, federal counsel Shaiful Nizam Shahril for the government and lawyer Wong Tee Jie for 1MDB.