Several days ago, after the US Department of Justice filed its third civil forfeiture complaint to forfeit and recover assets worth approximately USD1.6 billion alleged to have been bought with money siphoned from 1MDB, lawyers for Rosmah Mansor, wife of PM Najib Razak, announced that Rosmah will sue those who make baseless allegations against her on social media and other publications.

To hasten the work of said legal firm, I have identified 7 tweets and website articles that clearly attempt to implicate Rosmah with the 1MDB financial scandal – even though the DoJ filing did not exactly specify who is the “wife of Malaysian Official 1”. The allegations involve the purchase of a pink diamond necklace worth USD27.3 million by an individual named Jho Low, who subsequently gifted said pink diamond necklace to Rosmah.

(Click the picture for the full tweet/website.)

1) Twitter AJ+

2) Twitter Tom Wright (Wall Street Journal)

3) Twitter Reuters

4) Twitter Bradley Hope (Wall Street Journal)

5) The New York Times (US)

6) The Guardian (UK)

7) The Straits Times (Singapura)

If what has been written in these tweets and websites are baseless allegations, Rosmah’s lawyers must immediately contact these Twitter and website owners and force them to correct their reports or tweets.

This is important because these Twitter accounts and websites are “influencers”, international, credible, and have a large if not huge following; members of the public who read these tweets and articles have a high chance to believing that the writings are based on facts and therefore is true. A denial alone will not suffice, and in fact such an action will only solidify public perception that there is truth to the allegations made in the DoJ filings.

Perhaps a more effective step to take is for the Malaysian Attorney General to immediately send an official delegation to cooperate with the DoJ case, or if the AG reopens the 1MDB case and promptly brings the case to court.

At the same time, I feel obligated to remind Prime Minister Najib Razak’s lawyer that on 5th July 2015, Najib himself said that he will sue the Wall Street Journal regarding a report alleging a sum of USD700 million siphoned out of 1MDB was transferred into his personal bank account, yet to this day he has not proceeded with this action. Just like the matter above, Najib must promptly sue WSJ; otherwise, the public will perceive that the allegations made have factual basis.

Fahmi Fadzil
KEADILAN Communications Director
19 June 2017