Najib and Rosmah sue Rafizi, news portal owner for defamation

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor filed a defamation suit against Parti Keadilan Rakyat's (PKR) vice president Rafizi Ramli and the owner of news portal Media Rakyat Chan Chee Kong in relation to the oil subsidy issue.
The suit was filed on Wednesday via the law firm Messrs Hafarizam, Wan & Aisha Mubarak at the High Court registry.
They named Pandan MP Rafizi as the first defendant and Chan who is the sole proprietor of Mediarakyat.net as the second defendant.
In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs, Najib and Rosmah claimed that Rafizi was a speaker at a forum in Bandar Tun Razak on Nov 22, 2014 during which he delivered a speech on issues relating to oil subsidies.
They said the speech was subsequently uploaded by Chan himself or his assistants to Media Rakyat's YouTube channel and website at www.mediarakyat.net with the title "Rafizi Ramli: Kenapa kita pertahankan subsidi minyak", which was later shared on Media Rakyat's Facebook page had defamed them.
Najib and Rosmah also said that the second defendant failed to exercise "responsible journalism" by taking steps to verify or investigate the truth of the allegations in the speech by Rafizi before publishing it.
They also said the second defendant did not afford an opportunity to them to comment on the allegations.
Najib alleged that the defamatory words, in their ordinary and natural meaning, meant that he had unlawfully stolen the people's monies in relation to or in connection with the removal of oil subsidies for his personal gains.
While Rosmah alleged that the defamatory words, in their ordinary and natural meaning, meant that she had unlawfully benefited from the people's money, allegedly stolen by Najib and that she had purchased a RM20 million ring using the people's monies.
The said the damage to their reputation will continue for years to come as the publication of the words in the recording is accessible globally via the internet and can be shared many times over.
Both Najib and Rosmah alleged that Rafizi had sought to damage their reputation by uttering words that would benefit him and his party - Parti Keadilan Rakyat.
They said they had sent a letter of demand dated Dec 4 last year, asking for the defendants to stop making further defamatory statements, issue a written apology and retract the defamatory words, on terms to be approved by the plaintiffs, but the defendants denied defaming them via a letter issued on Dec 9 and did not comply with their requests.
Najib and Rosmah are seeking for an injunction to restrain Rafizi and Chan or their agents from further publishing the slanderous statement and an order that Rafizi and Chan publish a written apology in national newspapers and magazines identified by the plaintiffs.
They also want Chan to remove the recording from MediaRakyat's YouTube page, website and Facebook page.
They are also seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages, interests, costs and any reliefs deemed fit by the court.