Najib, 3 others succeed in stopping Zaid Ibrahim

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today allowed the application by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and three others to strike out former minister Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim's suit against them in relation to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Judicial commissioner Rohani Ismail found that Mohd Zaid's case against the Prime Minister, 1MDB, the Malaysian government and Najib's stepson, Riza Shariz Abdul Aziz, disclosed no reasonable cause of action, was scandalous, frivolous and an abuse of the court process.
The judge held that Mohd Zaid had no locus standi to file the suit as he was not an officer, shareholder or agent of 1MDB, or given authority by 1MDB to institute proceedings against the defendants, for 1MDB and the government's advantage.
She said the plaintiff failed to show that 1MDB's funds had been converted or misappropriated by Najib for other people to use.
Rohani added that the plaintiff's action against 1MDB had no merit and should not have been dragged into the suit.
The judge further found that the plaintiff's claim did not comply with Order 18 Rule 12, Rules of Court 2012 by failing to plead material facts against the defendants.
"After considering the submissions by all parties, the court ruled that the application of the defendants is allowed with costs of RM4,000 to be paid by the plaintiff to each defendant," Rohani said.
Najib was represented by counsel Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun, while Riza Shariz was represented by Datuk Seri Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos. 1MDB was represented by Datuk Tan Hock Chuan, while the government, by senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan.
Mohd Zaid's lawyer was Americk Singh Sidhu.
Mohd Zaid filed the suit on Aug 17, 2016, for return of RM2.6 billion and RM42 million related to 1MDB that were allegedly deposited into Najib's account, as well as 2% on the amount, back to the Malaysian government.
In his statement of claim, Mohd Zaid alleged that Najib had committed breach of fiduciary duty by accepting the money and allegedly providing funds to Riza.
Meanwhile, the court also allowed Mohd Zaid's application to withdraw his originating summons filed on Oct 21, 2016 against AmBank Islamic Berhad for an order to compel the bank to reveal the number of accounts that the Prime Minister allegedly had with the bank in regard to funds totalling RM2.6 billion.
Mohd Hafarizam said the judge granted the application with liberty to file afresh.
"The court also ordered the plaintiff to pay RM2,000 costs to the Prime Minister as intervenor in the case and AmBank as defendant," he said.
On Dec 14, 2016, Najib applied to be an intervenor in the ex-parte originating summons filed by Mohd Zaid against AmBank.
Mohd Zaid had sought among others for an order allowing him or his lawyer to scrutinise and make copies of the entries made in a number of AmBank Islamic Berhad accounts that allegedly belonged to Najib. — Bernama