A three-man bench chaired by Ahmad Asnawi said there was no appealable error to warrant appellate court intervention.
“The appeal is dismissed,” said Ahmad, who ordered Pua to pay RM5,000 each in costs to Najib and the government.
Others on the bench were justices Kamardin Hashim and Yeoh Wee Siam.
On Oct 13, judicial commissioner Faizah Jamaludin said Pua lacked the legal capacity as a taxpayer to file the suit against the company whose majority shareholder was the finance ministry.
She said the DAP publicity chief had no cause of action, and to allow the suit to proceed was unsustainable and would amount to abuse of the court process.
Faizah said Pua was also unable to show that the act done by Najib as chairman of the 1MDB advisory board was to injure him, or that the prime minister had been reckless or indifferent.
Faizah said Najib was not a public officer in his capacity as prime minister, finance minister or MP for Pekan as these offices were excluded from public service under the Interpretation Act.
Najib’s grounds for the striking-out application were based on the contention that he is not a public official, and that Pua had filed the suit for political purposes.
On Jan 16, 2017, Pua filed the suit against the prime minister for abuse of public office over 1MBD funds.
Pua sought a declaration that Najib had committed the tort of misfeasance in public office and had abused his office to personally profit from the funds.
He said the Malaysian government was also vicariously liable for Najib’s action in his capacity as a public servant.
Najib has denied any wrongdoing. In January 2016, the attorney-general cleared him of any offence in relation to 1MDB.
Court dismisses Tony Pua’s abuse of public office suit against Najib