Najib’s lawyer, Emelia Iszeham, said today they had withdrawn the cases against Harakah and its editors before High Court judge Hue Siew Kheng, with no liberty to file a new suit.
However, she did not disclose what other terms were agreed on.
Najib sued Harakah and its editors in 2015 for allegedly defaming him over the 1MDB issue in an article “Dana 1MDB biayai syarikat filem Riza Aziz”, published on Feb 19, 2015.
This is the second time this week that Najib has dropped a defamation suit. He earlier withdrew a lawsuit filed against Damansara MP Tony Pua in 2015 over the DAP leader’s statement in a YouTube video that “Najib created the biggest scandal ever in the history of Malaysia”.
Najib also gave up pursuing his case over a 1MDB allegation against former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik last month.
A second lawsuit by Najib against Pua over his Facebook video on the tabling of the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act will proceed in the High Court for case management on June 28.
Pua’s lawyer Tan Ch’eng Leong said the DAP leader also wanted to pursue his appeal in the Federal Court to lift the injunction on his Facebook video.
“It is important for us to question the judicial notice that was noted in the Court of Appeal judgment then,” he said.
Tan said the Federal Court would hear Pua’s leave to appeal against the injunction on June 20.
Earlier this year, a Court of Appeal bench took judicial notice in Pua’s injunction appeal that Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali had cleared Najib after investigations by police, Bank Negara, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Public Accounts Committee over the RM2.6 billion donation issue.
The appeals court upheld the High Court decision to restrain Pua from uploading the video.
Najib had claimed Pua’s video entitled “BN abandons all Bills to give precedence to PAS RUU355 Private Member’s Bill” was directed at him and done with malice.
He also said Pua had uttered statements in the video that the tabling of Act 355 was a charade to divert attention from the 1MDB fiasco and the RM2.6 billion found in Najib’s private accounts.
Appeals court says Najib deserves injunction against Pua’s video