Lawyer withdraws from case, hearing of Dzulkefly's suit against Najib postponed

Judicial Commissioner Arziah Mohamed Apandi allowed the application by lawyer Datuk S.N. Nair and fixed March 5, 6, and 7, 2025 to hear the case.

"The court also set July 10 for case management and vacated the trial dates from today until June 6 (Thursday)," she said during the proceedings, which were also attended by Najib's lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee.

In Jan 2022, Dzulkefly, who was former Minister of Health, filed the lawsuit in his personal capacity alleging that Najib had uploaded a slanderous posting on his Facebook page on Aug 24, 2020 on cronyism as well as an attachment of Sinar Harian article dated Jan 28, 2019 with a picture of the plaintiff's face.

He claimed the statement, among others, meant the plaintiff practises cronyism by offering posts and appointments to relatives without any objective evaluation and their capability for posts in government and private companies.

The plaintiff alleged Najib had produced a slanderous posting with the intention to attack him personally, tarnished his reputation as well as to shame him and it was politically motivated with the intention to mar his image.

As such, the plaintiff applied for an injunction order to restrain the defendant or his agents from continuing to publish or disseminate the post in any way, and an order for the defendant to make a written apology published on his Facebook page and in a local newspaper of his choice within seven days from the date of the order apart from seeking general, aggravated, exemplary damages and any other relief deemed fit by the court.

-- BERNAMA