KUALA LUMPUR (March 15): In the spirit of the Holy month of Ramadan, Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad has expressed his willingness to engage in the resolution of a defamation suit he filed against Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

This, the health minister said, is on condition that the "false reference to nepotism and defamatory statements" made by the former Umno president against him is rectified by way of an apology, and that his legal costs are paid.

Speaking to The Edge on Saturday, the Parti Amanah Negara vice-president said he explained to the court earlier this month that his daughter Nurul Iman Dzulkefly's appointment to Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) was made prior to the 2018 general election.

He said that Nurul Iman was appointed to the post on April 30, 2018, while the 14th general election was held on May 9 that year, and following Pakatan Harapan's victory, he was appointed as a minister under then-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on May 21.

Dzulkefly said ex-PM Najib made the defamatory post on Aug 24, 2020, and it was re-edited six times that day.

The health minister was clarifying what transpired on March 7, when he appeared before Judicial Commissioner Arziah Mohamed Apandi in her chambers with his lawyer and Najib’s counsel Muhammad Farhan Shafee.

Najib, who is serving his jail sentence for his conviction in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case, was also present in court.

Prior to this, Dzulkefly had also settled a similar defamation suit with Umno secretary general Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki on a similar issue earlier this year.

It was previously reported that Dzulkefly was in discussion to possibly settle the suit against Najib, which he filed in 2021, with Farhan saying that the parties were trying to reach an amicable solution to the matter.

Originally, the court had fixed March 5 to 7 as trial dates, but following the latest development, Arziah fixed April 7 for case management.

Dzulkefly filed the RM5 million defamation suit against Najib at the High Court here on Dec 31, 2021, following Najib’s Facebook post which alleged that the health minister had practised nepotism to ensure his daughter Nurul Iman’s appointment as a board member of AIM.

The Amanah politician alleged that Najib’s post was politically motivated, and clearly intended to defame and tarnish his reputation.

However, Najib in his defence claimed that the Facebook post had nothing in connection with Dzulkefly, and asserted that it referred to Pakatan Harapan.

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