FORMER Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak issued a legal notice to recently ousted premier, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, demanding the latter to answer allegation that the latter was asked to meddle in the former’s court trials.
“Muhyiddin has until tomorrow to answer for this rumour, claiming I had sought the former’s to help me out in my trial,” he said in a Facebook post.
Upon ascending the premiership in Feb 2019, Muhyiddin made it clear numerous times that he would never meddle in the judiciary.
Despite being part of the Perikatan Nasional, Umno has been split between two factions, namely the “court cluster” and “Cabinet cluster”. While the latter is in favour of working with Muhyiddin, the former was against him.
Before leaving office, Muhyiddin claimed that several quarters had pressured him to intervene in several high-profile court cases but he had not succumbed to it.
Subsequently, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan posted on his Facebook page, on Aug 5, alleging Najib had requested Muhyiddin to change Court of Appeal judges’ panel who are due to hear his case.
But Najib denied the claim on the same day and sent a legal notice to Wan Saiful.
Touching on the matter, Najib said he sent legal notice to Muhyiddin as well after Wan Saiful made the claim.
“When I demanded Wan Saiful to prove the matter in court, he is now saying he heard rumours of it. Wan Saiful also said he was merely asking a question through the post and wanted to give me to answer it,” he stated.
Getting too much
In replying to Najib’s legal notice, Wan Saiful’s legal team had supposedly mentioned that it was the latter’s right to ask such questions under the Federal Constitution.
“Hence, using the official answer sent by Wan Saiful’s lawyers, my counsel has also sent a letter of demand to our previous prime minister.
“I’m demanding Muhyiddin to answer clearly if he was responsible for spreading the ‘rumour’ about me to Wan Saiful.
“I also want him to explain when and how I made the request to meddle in my court cases,” the Pekan MP mentioned.
Najib then said that his legal team would follow up on the matter as soon as Muhyiddin gives his response.
“You can criticise me but stop the slander. I have gone weary of these incessant falsehoods levelled against me using media propaganda and Government agencies,” he shot back. – Sept 9, 2021
