Don’t be angry at Ismail over Najib’s jailing, says Umno man

 

Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan says the majority of Umno members are saddened by the Federal Court’s decision to uphold Najib Razak’s conviction and sentence in his SRC International case.

PETALING JAYA: Umno does not condone any public anger towards Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob over former prime minister Najib Razak’s incarceration.

Instead, Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan said the public’s anger should be directed at Pakatan Harapan (PH) for practising selective prosecution.

“We (Umno) don’t want the people to be angry with Ismail, but rather PH for the political persecution during its administration,” Utusan Malaysia quoted him as saying.

Ahmad said the majority of Umno members were saddened by the Federal Court’s decision to uphold Najib’s conviction and sentence in his SRC International case, while a small minority of the party either had no opinion or respected the court’s ruling.

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Najib was convicted in 2020 on seven charges of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust over RM42 million in SRC International funds, a decision which was upheld by the Court of Appeal last December.

He was sent to Kajang prison on Aug 23 after his conviction and sentence were affirmed by the apex court.

Prior to the Federal Court’s decision, there were claims that Ismail was under pressure to interfere in Najib’s court case.

However, Ismail has denied those allegations.

Claiming that politics was not simply about facts and figures, but also emotions, Ahmad did not rule out the possibility of leveraging on the anger and sympathy over Najib’s imprisonment to Umno’s advantage at the next general election.

“Umno members should not disregard how sympathy towards the former prime minister can be used to garner the public’s support,” he noted. - FMT