FORMER Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas has raised objections to several parts of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s witness statement in an ongoing defamation suit related to allegations published in Thomas’s memoir ‘My Story: Justice in the Wilderness’
The objection was raised by Thomas’s counsel, Alan Adrian Gomez, during the second day of trial at the Shah Alam High Court before Judge Datuk Khadijah Idris, while Najib was reading his statement in court.
Among the contested portions is content involving private investigator P. Balasubramaniam.
Justice Khadijah has fixed 19 September for oral submissions and a ruling on the objections.
On 11 October last year, Najib testified that he never instructed former Special Action Unit (UTK) members Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar to murder Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006, stating he had never even met her.
The former Pekan MP filed the defamation suit in 2021, naming Thomas and GB Gerakbudaya Enterprise Sdn Bhd as the first and second defendants respectively.
In his statement of claim, Najib, 72, alleged that Thomas authored and facilitated the publication of the book, which implicated him in Altantuya’s murder.
He claimed that the book, published by Gerakbudaya and released in Malaysia in late January 2021, was also widely distributed internationally.
Najib contended that the alleged defamatory content implied he had directed Azilah and Sirul to kill Altantuya, and had misled the public about the murder to conceal his own wrongdoing.
He claimed the publication had damaged his reputation and is seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages, along with a court order for the removal of the alleged defamatory content from the book. - August 29, 2025
