Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik will not participate in the court-mandated mediation of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s defamation suit against him unless the prime minister agrees to be present, the former’s lawyers said today.
Clarifying yesterday’s reports on the matter, the former MCA’s lawyers said the mediation session was not certain to proceed as Najib’s lawyers has asked that he be excused from attending.
They added that the former transport minister believed that any such attempt to settle the suit before trial would be pointless unless both individuals were present to resolve their difference in person.
“If Tun Ling is to participate in any mediation, it will be on the basis that the prime minister is also present to participate and ventilate all issues between themselves,” Dr Ling’s lawyers said in a statement today.
“After all, the prime minister and Tun Ling were once colleagues serving in the same Cabinet. Otherwise, such mediation would be futile.”
Najib’s lawyer yesterday said that High Courty judge John Louis O’Hara ordered both men to attempt mediation and settle the prime minister’s defamation lawsuit before it reaches trial.
The prime minister filed a defamation suit against Dr Ling last October over the former transport minister’s reported remarks that Najib “has taken people’s money and put it in his own personal accounts.”
Najib has been linked to ongoing corruption investigations on 1Malaysia Development Berhad after US-based Wall Street Journal reported in July some US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) was funnelled through several entities linked to the state-owned firm into the prime minister’s personal bank accounts, two months before the 2013 general elections.
Dr Ling previously said he stood by his comments and that he accepted the challenge of the prime minister’s lawsuit against him.
Clarifying yesterday’s reports on the matter, the former MCA’s lawyers said the mediation session was not certain to proceed as Najib’s lawyers has asked that he be excused from attending.
They added that the former transport minister believed that any such attempt to settle the suit before trial would be pointless unless both individuals were present to resolve their difference in person.
“If Tun Ling is to participate in any mediation, it will be on the basis that the prime minister is also present to participate and ventilate all issues between themselves,” Dr Ling’s lawyers said in a statement today.
“After all, the prime minister and Tun Ling were once colleagues serving in the same Cabinet. Otherwise, such mediation would be futile.”
Najib’s lawyer yesterday said that High Courty judge John Louis O’Hara ordered both men to attempt mediation and settle the prime minister’s defamation lawsuit before it reaches trial.
The prime minister filed a defamation suit against Dr Ling last October over the former transport minister’s reported remarks that Najib “has taken people’s money and put it in his own personal accounts.”
Najib has been linked to ongoing corruption investigations on 1Malaysia Development Berhad after US-based Wall Street Journal reported in July some US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) was funnelled through several entities linked to the state-owned firm into the prime minister’s personal bank accounts, two months before the 2013 general elections.
Dr Ling previously said he stood by his comments and that he accepted the challenge of the prime minister’s lawsuit against him.