Tony Pua questions judicial notice exonerating Najib in 1MDB scandal

KUALA LUMPUR: Damansara MP Tony Pua Kiam Wee is questioning a judicial notice by the Court of Appeal that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak did not commit any wrongdoing in regard to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

Lawyer Tan Ch’eng Leong, representing Pua, said his client would be raising the judicial notice in filing for leave to appeal at the Federal Court against the interim injunction obtained by Najib in his suit against Pua in connection with a video clip involving the tabling of amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 or RUU355.

“The judicial notice is being questioned because it involves public interest and can affect other cases.

“My client’s appeal will be heard by the Federal Court on June 20,” he told reporters after Najib’s suit against Pua came up for case management at High Court Judge Datuk Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab’s chambers here on Friday.

Mohd Zaki also fixed June 28 for further case management of the suit.

Also present was lawyer Nor Hazira Abu Haiyan, who is representing Najib.

On Feb 14, the COA had dismissed Pua’s appeal to strike out the interim injunction awarded to Najib, which prohibited Pua from continuing to publish statements and air the clip alleged to be defamatory to Najib.

The three-man bench said the court was of the opinion and took into the consideration the judicial notice that in fact Najib did not commit any wrongdoing in relation to 1MDB and also took cognisance that the scandal had been fully probed by the Public Accounts Committee. According to the panel, investigations were also conducted by the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission, Royal Malaysia Police, Bank Negara and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, whereby the Attorney-General had made a public announcement that Najib had not committed any offence in relation to the 1MDB scandal.

On Aug 4 last year, The High Court had allowed an application by Najib to get the interim injunction to prevent Pua from continuing to make statements and air the video clip.

On April 21 last year, Najib in his personal capacity had sued Pua, claiming that the latter had defamed him in a live video broadcast in relation to RUU355.

In his affidavit, Najib claimed that Pua had made a statement at Parliament lobby on April 6 last year, which was recorded and uploaded by the defendant or his agents on Tony Pua’s official Facebook.