Najib Abdul Razak received stiff resistance from the United States Justice Department (DOJ) to his request to obtain 1MDB-linked evidence in 2021, his legal team clarified.

In a statement, the lawyers representing the former premier said the application filed in 2020 sought critical evidence from former banker Tim Leissner and Goldman Sachs and was initially granted by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Jan 8, 2021.

“In fact, magistrate Katherine H Parker found that granting Najib’s...