Face me in court, Deepak tells Najib

(FMT) – Businessman Deepak Jaikishan has challenged Najib Razak to face the lawsuits he has filed against him and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, instead of attempting to strike them out.

“No way, Najib. I have proof … sufficient documents, audio and video recordings. So, don’t run away and hide again this time,” he said in a text message.

Deepak said that in the past, Najib and Rosmah applied to strike out his suits so that the courts would not hear the cases.

He said he was proceeding with four more legal suits next week over concession agreements that Rosmah instructed to be revoked.

Deepak said this in response to Najib’s accusations that Deepak’s suits were a “complete fabrication, an afterthought and baseless”.

“Let us fight this out in court.”

Najib told FMT earlier today that he and Rosmah had instructed their lawyers to challenge two suits filed by Deepak, accusing them of causing him to lose millions of ringgit worth of land and forcing him to take some RM200 million in loans.

“His accusations against us are illogical and nothing more than an attempt to cast aspersions against us through the filing of these civil suits,” he said, adding that the suits would be “vigorously” opposed.

Deepak is also suing Boustead Holdings Sdn Bhd and Bakti Development Wira Sdn Bhd, accusing them of interfering in a property deal in Selangor that caused his company, Astacanggih Sdn Bhd, to suffer huge losses.

Deepak wants the court to award him RM656 million in damages or to return two pieces of land covering 223 acres (90ha) in Kapar, Klang, to him.

In another suit, Deepak and his brother Rajesh are suing Najib, Rosmah and three others for RM52.6 million, saying they were forced to take a RM198.8 million loan from Bank Rakyat.

The other three defendants are Najib’s brother Johari, former Tabung Haji chairman Abdul Azeez Rahim and Bank Rakyat chairman Shukry Salleh.

“My brother and I were acting as ‘proxies’ for Najib and Rosmah for the 2008 loan and the couple were supposed to settle the loan for us,” Deepak said in his suit.

Deepak came to prominence when he was linked to the late P Balasubramaniam, a private investigator hired by Abdul Razak Baginda, a former aide to Najib, who was charged and later acquitted of the 2006 murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.