Dropping of 1MDB suit shows allegations were baseless - Azalina

A minister said today the dropping of a class action suit by Matthias Chang and Datuk Husam Musa against companies and individuals in the United States over 1Malaysia Development Berhad showed that their allegations were of no merit and baseless.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said the voluntary dismissal of the suit by Chang, ex-political secretary of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and Husam, the former PAS vice-president, was intended to seek cheap publicity and was an abuse of the court process.

"Both of them not only embarassed Malaysia but showed that they lacked an understanding of court procedures and the basic requirements to file a class action suit.

"Their action was with a political agenda and they were hasty in seeking publicity by abusing the court process," she said in a press statement here.

Azalina said Husam's justification that the withdrawal was for the purpose of aligning the claims following new developments in the case was unacceptable.

The suit was filed by Chang and Husam against 1MDB, Goldman Sachs, film producer Riza Aziz and his company Red Granite Pictures.