Shahbudin: Najib has no more excuses on WSJ

Najib should concede that it’s a fact that USD681 million did enter his personal banking accounts as reported by WSJ and clarify whether he has cause for action against the US paper.

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno President and Prime Minister Najib Razak should once and for all say whether he’s going to sue the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) for alleging in a report on Friday 3 July that USD681 million entered his personal accounts at AmBank Islamic before the last General Election in 2013, said a political analyst in a blog posting. “His latest excuse is that WSJ may invoke the Speech Act which means he won’t be able to enforce a judgment obtained in Malaysia in the US.”

(Speech Act — Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage.)

Instead of implying that that he would win in Court, said Shahbudin Husin, Najib should concede that it’s a fact that USD681 million did enter his accounts as reported by WSJ. “If he wants to sue WSJ, what’s the basis for his action?”

“What’s he going to sue for? Has he cause for action?”

Again, said the analyst, it’s better for the Prime Minister to own up and say that he wouldn’t be suing the prestigious American newspaper with more than a century of excellence in reporting. “After the Speech Act, what other excuses will he come up with to mislead the people?”

Shahbudin was commenting on the issue of Najib suing WSJ surfacing again on Wednesday after hearing no news for quite some time now. “It was Najib’s lawyer, Hafarizam Harun, who said that the Prime Minister wants to know whether WSJ will invoke the Speech Act if he proceeds to take it to Court on the USD681 million.”

“The Speech Act, we learn, is an Act which protects US companies, the media in particular, from being dragged to Court outside the country for defamation.”

The analyst noted that Hafarizam had written a letter to WSJ to find out whether it’s going to invoke the Speech Act should Najib haul it to Court on the USD681 million. “I don’t want to file a case in Malaysia, get judgment and it becomes a decision only on paper because WSJ goes on to claim that it’s covered by the Speech Act. Wouldn’t that be an exercise in futility and a waste of time?” the analyst quoted Hafarizam as saying.

The lawyer also apparently told the media that one way to circumvent the Speech Act is if Najib can prove to the satisfaction of a Court in the US, after getting judgment in Malaysia, that the judiciary in Malaysia was as independent and the media as free as in the US.

Even if the action against WSJ doesn’t pan out, said Shahbudin, the fact remains that sacked Umno Langkawi women’s leader Anina Saadudin has taken the USD681 million matter to Court in Malaysia. “Unfortunately, she has been sacked on the grounds that she took the party to Court without first exhausting the internal remedies available.”

Anina was only taking Najib and not the party to Court over the money, said the analyst. “Now, we will never know where the money came from, who gave it and for what, where did it go to, and where’s it’s now.”

He recalled that when the news first broke in WSJ, Najib vowed that he would sue the newspapers for all it’s worth. “It was a Tuesday and since then many Tuesdays have come and gone and still there’s no sign of him suing the newspaper,” said the analyst. “All we keep getting are excuses.”

“After threatening to sue, his lawyers sent WSJ a letter seeking clarifications i.e. whether the newspaper really said whatever they were supposed to have said, what they mean by it, and whether they stand by it. They were given 14 days to respond.”

The WSJ not only responded that it stood by the report on the USD681 million but were willing to face Najib in Court over the matter. “Najib’s lawyers then said that the Prime Minister had several options to consider,” said Shahbudin. “The Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) then confirmed that USD681 million did enter Najib’s personal banking accounts – as reported by WSJ – and said that it was a donation.”

Najib’s people then went public, trying to outdo each other, making all sorts of excuses for the USD681 million in his accounts.