KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak is allowed to attend court proceedings relating to his civil lawsuit against former Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas on Oct 21.
High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Bache today allowed the convicted former prime minister to hear the proceedings where both parties are now arguing their legal points via oral submissions.
The ruling was made via an online proceeding.
Najib, 69, is seeking RM1.9 million in damages and a declaration that Thomas had committed misfeasance in public office.
Accusing Thomas of targeting him from as far back as 2012, the former prime minister, who is serving 12 years jail, said the former AG had always been prejudiced against him when it came to the handling of the 1MDB cases.
His lead counsel Datuk Firoz Hussein Ahmad referred to passages from Thomas' self written autobiography titled My Story: Justice in the Wilderness to back his arguments, pointing out that the contents clearly showed the then AG's biased and prejudiced views about his client.
Firoz said it was extraordinary for Thomas to make such statements because he should have been looking at the evidence impartially and decide whether a charge should be preferred.
Firoz also cited how Thomas had handled former Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's corruption case and individuals charged with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) movement.
He said it was clear that the law was applied differently for different people.
Meanwhile, Counsel Alan Adrian Gomez, representing Thomas, argued that Najib's lawsuit against his client was an abuse of the court process.
He said the grounds that support the application against his client are clearly scandalous, frivolous, vexatious and constitute an abuse of processes.
In his statement of claim, Najib said he had been wrongfully accused in court over the four 1MDB-related cases.
The Pekan member of parliament claimed the charges against him were part of a move planned in advance by Thomas, which was also in line with the Pakatan Harapan government's agenda at the time.
Najib claimed that in 2015, Thomas had met Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to discuss Najib's alleged wrongdoing and mismanagement involving 1MDB funds and also advised Dr Mahathir to take civil and criminal action against him over his involvement in 1MDB.