KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak said he decided to withdraw his civil suit against the government as he has no grudge against it, insisting that his grieve was only with former Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas.
Najib had initially sued the government and also Thomas over the charges brought against him in criminal cases linked to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
However, he dropped the government as a defendant today but maintained his claims against Thomas in the civil suit.
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.
"The fact is he had targeted my client for a long time, since 2012. It was a premeditated plan.
"The evidence we rely on is from the words of Tommy Thomas himself. We can see it in the various pages of his book...It is his own admission on what he did and what his motives were when he did them.
"He had already formulated in his mind that Najib and Jho Low (fugitive financier and alleged mastermind of the 1MDB scandal Low Taek Jho) had perpetrated a massive fraud. This was his mindset even before he was appointed," he said.
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.
"He cannot come to the table already convinced the person is guilty.
"If he had such thoughts, he should have gotten someone else to make the determination whether a charge should be preferred against Najib," he said in his submissions involving Najib's civil suit against Thomas.
Firoz also cited how Thomas had handled former Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's corruption case and that involving 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.
However, at this point High Court Judge Datuk Ahmad Bache interjected and asked Firoz if it was indeed Thomas who had decided to withdraw the charges against Lim, pointing out that it was the Appellate and Trial Division/Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Mohamad Hanafiah Zakaria who had made the decision.
In reply, Firoz said it was still Thomas who was accountable for it, noting that one could see the difference between how Lim and Najib were treated.
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.
Najib is seeking RM1.9 million in damages and a declaration that Thomas had committed misfeasance in public office.
Hearing continues on Oct 31.
