KUALA LUMPUR: The director of the 'Man on the Run' documentary today refuted Datuk Seri Najib Razak's claims that that he had been deceived during the interview for the programme.
Cassius Michael Kim said the production team - The Smoking Section, was very transparent about their intention when they engaged with the former prime minister for the interview in 2022.
The director said Najib's lawyer Muhammad Farhan Shafee who is also the son of his lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah and aide Ahmad Lutfi Azhar were present during the whole sessions.
"Not only were we upfront with Najib in the lead-up to the interview about the subject matter of the documentary, and his role in it, we sat together for over four hours for the actual taped interview.
"During this time, we covered every inch of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) saga, inside and out.
"Every 30 to 45 minutes, Najib would retire to a private conference room with his attorney, Farhan and aide Luthfi to discuss what he and I spoke during the interview.
"Najib will return with clarifications and additional thoughts he wanted to add.
"With this context, how could Najib not be aware of what the documentary would be about?" he told New Straits Times when asked to comment on Shafee's contention today.
However, Kim who is currently based in the United States said Najib never declined or showed reluctance in answering any of his questions during the interview.
The director said he and his team had not received any complaints since the documentary was broadcast to the public.
"Najib is the only person interviewed for the film who did not either directly, or through his team, reach out to me after the documentary was completed and premiered theatrically and on Netflix," he added.
On Monday, Shafee during a press conference claimed his client was misled into agreeing to the interview.
The lawyer claimed that one of the directors and script writer had allegedly given his client a different narrative, indicating that the documentary was supposedly about fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low.
"Najib was misled into believing that the documentary would be about Low.
"It is obvious that what they relayed to him was different than the finished storyline of the documentary.
"However, what my client said (in the interview) was the truth. I watched it and can justify that what he said was correct and truthful.
"The storyline was later diverted to paint a different picture," he said.
The senior lawyer also raised this issue at the outset of Najib's corruption trial, demanding the government to remove the show from Netflix.
He described the show which interviewed several high-ranking individuals such as former Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas and current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as extremely sub judice and contemptuous.
He said Najib had instructed him to file a contempt proceeding against Thomas and file a legal action against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown for her statement in the documentary.
Rewcastle-Brown was one of the whistleblowers who exposed this global-scale financial scandal.
Shafee said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the Home Ministry have the authority to take it (the documentary) off the air.
The one hour and 38 minutes documentary premiered on Netflix on Friday.
It currently holds the second position in the Top 10 movies on the platform.
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