KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 12): Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has sent a request via his lawyers to the government to have Man on The Run, a documentary on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, removed from Netflix.
The letter dated Jan 11 was sent by Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s firm Messrs Shafee and Co, and was addressed to Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Salim Fateh Din, and MCMC chief regulatory officer Datuk Zulkarnain Mohd Yasin.
The lawyers claimed that the documentary is “subjudice, prejudiced, slanderous, biased and has not nor has ever been either proven through documentary information or oral testimony of witnesses that have been presented in any trial, including the 1MDB-Tanore trial”.
He had requested the officials to have the documentary “taken down and for that content provider application to be prohibited from continuing to air this documentary programme”.
Shafee also said the MCMC could take legal action against the documentary’s makers, citing a legal provision that punishes offensive content online with a maximum RM50,000 fine or maximum one-year jail term.
Shafee said the contents of the documentary — which also features Najib himself — are in “contempt of court” of Najib’s ongoing 1MDB trial.
In the letter, Shafee had cited quotes from the documentary from former attorney general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, John R Mallot former ambassador of the US to Malaysia, Sarawak Report chief editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, former FBI agents to Malaysia Charles O’Neal and David Smith, former member of Parliament Tony Pua and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Shafee then urged the recipients to be aware and take note of the need to safeguard Najib’s rights without defamation or contempt of court.
On Monday (Jan 8), Shafee had also aired Najib’s grievances about the documentary during the 1MDB-Tanore trial before judge Datuk Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah at the High Court.
“Malott’s comments claiming abuses and no check and balance — where Najib was the chairman of 1MDB, also the finance minister and prime minister — were uncalled for.
“Tommy's description of Najib and [fugitive] Low Taek Jho’s (Jho Low) relationship, and description of who was the puppet master and who was the puppet in the scandal were also uncalled for,” Shafee said in open court.
The senior lawyer, however, commended The Edge publisher Datuk Ho Kay Tat’s comments in the movie, which he described were made carefully and not reckless like the rest.
Following this, Shafee said he had asked deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Ahmad Akram Gharib to view the Netflix programme, and move the AG and MCMC to bar the programme.
Ahmad Akram verified that he had yet to see the show, and would do the necessary.
Shafee said he had received instructions to file contempt against Tommy and a defamation suit against Rewcastle-Brown for their comments.
“Najib has already taken a defamation action against Tommy,” he added.
The senior lawyer also said that Rewcastle-Brown’s statement on the show linking the murder of DPP Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais to his client had painted a picture that Najib is a “serial murderer”, after also linking the former Pekan MP with the murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.
The one-hour-and-38-minute show, which also features Najib and other individuals, has been put up on the subscription-based video-streaming service. The show debuted in several cinemas nationwide in October last year.