Najib withdraws defamation suit against Tony Pua over 1MDB

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak has withdrawn his defamation suit against Damansara MP Tony Pua and MediaRakyat portal owner Chan Chee Kong.
After meeting in the chambers of Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, the lawyers told media outside the courtroom that the suit had been withdrawn at undisclosed terms.
"After seeking instruction from my client, we have withdrawn with undisclosed terms. The court has agreed for the suit to be withdrawn with no liberty to file afresh," counsel Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun who represented Najib told reporters.
In the lawsuit filed over three years ago, Najib said Pua had delivered a speech at a DAP fund-raising dinner about the scandal-ridden sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) where the latter had slandered him.  
He said the speech was then uploaded by Chan or his agents onto MediaRakyat's YouTube channel and MediaRakyat's webpage. 
Najib was seeking an apology, retraction of the statement and compensation.
Meanwhile, lawyer Michelle Ng who represented Pua said the case management for another suit by Najib against her client will be on Friday.
Najib had on April 21 last year sued Pua over the posting of an allegedly defamatory video clip on Facebook.
The live video was about PAS' Private Member's Bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act (a.k.a. RU355), and Najib claimed Pua broadcast it from the Parliament complex on April 6.
Najib contended that the almost two-and-a-half-minute clip contained slanderous words against him in his capacity as Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
Only last week Najib withdrew a defamation suit against former MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik over a "libellous article" also on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).