Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng views the plea bargain that saw a Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur grant movie producer Riza Abdul Aziz a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on money laundering charges as a routine move in the legal system.
However, his Pakatan Harapan colleagues Tan Yee Kew and Dr Xavier Jayakumar feel that the Sessions Court decision is an alarming one that needs to be explained to the public.
This morning Judge Azman Ahmad allowed the application by ad hoc prosecutor Gopal Sri Ram on grounds that an agreement had been reached where the accused will hand over "several million" ringgit to the federal government.
Riza, who is former premier Najib Abdul Razak’s stepson, was in July last year, charged with five counts of money laundering involving US$248 million (RM1.08 billion) allegedly misappropriated from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.
Lim (above) said that plea bargain deals are to be expected and do have their advantages.
"This criminal trial is resolved through a plea bargain between the prosecutor and the defence lawyer.
"Plea bargains allow both parties to avoid trials which are time-consuming and costly but carry no guarantee of success to either side," he told Malaysiakini.
Despite the public outcry and unease over the settlement, Lim says that there is a long list of advantages to plea bargaining.
"In this case, the agreement reached between the prosecution and Riza is for the latter to return to the government millions of ringgit allegedly linked to 1MDB in exchange of a DNAA court's order for all his charges."
Lim, who was a practising lawyer prior to his election to Parliament in 2008, noted that the great majority of criminal cases in the developed countries involve some form of plea bargaining.
Wangsu Maju MP Tan, however, said that this judgment sends a very bad signal to the people.
"Of course he must have his reasons, but I think Gopal owes the rakyat an explanation. Why does he have to make a deal with Riza?" she said.
"1MDB has caused too much financial damage to the country and after the Harapan government fell, there is the fear of the rakyat that there will be a mass acquittal of 1MDB-related cases.
"Therefore Riza's (below) acquittal will send this signal that this could be the first of many."
Former minister Xavier who is Kuala Langat MP concurred with that viewpoint.
"I also think it sends the wrong message to the Malaysian people, and I hope that it is not the first of many such cases.
"Just because we need to recover the funds doesn't mean that the person can get away with it."
He asked what lies in store for future court cases involving Najib and his family members.
"This doesn't sound fair and doesn't give us a proper direction. These are people who are trying to get out of jail sentences who are accused of having taken very large sums of money from the nation's coffers."
Riza, the producer of The Wolf of Wall Street and Dumb and Dumber To had pleaded not guilty to receiving a total of US$248 million on five occasions between 2011 and 2012.
He was accused of committing the offences by receiving the money through the bank account of Red Granite, the Hollywood production company he co-founded.
Najib himself is facing a slew of criminal charges for abuse of power and money laundering in relation to 1MDB. - Mkini
Shut ur lips lah
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