In the suit filed by legal firm Shafee & Co, the former prime minister is seeking unspecified damages and wants words and statements deemed defamatory to be removed.

Najib also wants an apology from Thomas and GB Gerakbudaya Enterprise Sdn Bhd and a permanent injunction that they will not publish anything defamatory about him.

Lawyer Farhan Muhammad Shafee, from Shafee & Co, when contacted by FMT, confirmed that the suit was filed earlier today.

In the statement of claim sighted by FMT, Najib said that on Jan 31, the book was published and the alleged defamation was in Chapter 42 under the title “Altantuya” which ran from pages 400 to 405.

It said a large number of readers would easily identify Najib as being the person written about and criminally-linked to the heinous crime of murdering Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The statement said the book, which includes the impugned statements, had been published by Gerakbudaya and distributed in and outside Malaysia from late January this year.

It said numerous extracts of the book, including the impugned statements, have been published and republished on the internet, in various blog sites, websites and media posts.

Despite the gravity of the allegations made, the defendants published the book without making any attempt to verify the information with Najib or afford any opportunity for him to comment on the proposed publications.

It said that by clear inference and innuendo, Thomas had conveyed the message that Najib was associated with former policemen Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azahar Umar who have been convicted for the murder of the Mongolian woman.

The statement said the book made it look like Najib was unfit to hold public office, with such “blood on his hands.”

It said the book indicated that Najib had a hidden agenda to kill Altantuya and that the plaintiff (Najib) had instructed the convicted persons to eliminate Altantuya as she was said to be a foreign spy and a danger to national interest.

The statement added that Thomas wrote the memoir to mischievously place the seeds of doubt and distrust in the minds of the readers and he conspired with the convicted ex-cops.

On Dec 8, 2020, Azilah’s final legal attempt to escape the death sentence for the murder of Altantuya failed after the Federal Court threw out his review application to set aside a 2015 final ruling and order a retrial.

A five-member bench chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Azahar Mohamed said there was no miscarriage of justice or violation of any written law to allow the review.

Azilah along with Sirul, issued a statutory declaration (SD) as part of an application in the Federal Court for the review.

In his SD, which was not expunged by the court, Azilah said, among others, that Altantuya’s former lover Abdul Razak Baginda and senior police officer Musa Safri were aware of “instructions” from Najib.

Azilah, in his attached sworn statement, said it was Najib who had given the “shoot to kill” order on Altantuya.

Razak was acquitted of abetment in Altantuya’s murder case while Najib has strongly denied allegations of his involvement.

Azilah and Sirul were sentenced to death in 2015, nine years after Altantuya was killed in a forest near Shah Alam and her body blown up with explosives in 2006.

Altantuya’s father, Setev, his wife, Altantsetseg Sanjaa, and Altantuya’s son, Mungunshagai Bayarjargal, have filed a RM100 million suit, naming Razak, the government, Sirul and Azilah as defendants.

The family, which alleges conspiracy in Altantuya’s murder, is seeking RM100 million in damages, including dependency claims.

Sirul fled to Australia before the final verdict and is currently being held at an Australian detention centre.

Razak, who was charged with abetment in the murder, was freed at the end of the prosecution’s case.

Neither Sirul nor Azilah, who is on death row at Kajang Prison, have challenged the suit.

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