Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Najib pardoned? Minister says wait for official statement

 


The Pardons Board is expected to issue a statement shortly over jailed former premier Najib Abdul Razak’s application.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Federal Territory) Zaliha Mustafa confirmed to Malaysiakini that the board had met on the matter but declined to provide details.

"Wait for the official statement from the Pardons Board," she said through an aide.

As at 2.30pm today, Utusan Malaysia published a story in which it quotes a source saying that the pardon for Najib has been approved.

However, by 3.45pm the said story was retracted.

“Utusan Malaysia has retracted the news about Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s pardon as the facts were not verified.

“We apologize to readers,” read a note on the page where the earlier story was published.

Malaysiakini understands that a meeting on this matter was held yesterday at Istana Negara.

The meeting was among Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah’s final tasks before he is replaced by Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar as his reign ends today.

Najib is serving a 12-year jail sentence at Kajang Prison for the RM42 million SRC International corruption case.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Federal Territory) Zaliha Mustafa

In addition, the former Umno president is also on trial for other charges related to the 1MDB mega scandal.

Yesterday, Najib's defence lawyer Shafee Abdullah said he had not received any information about the Pardons Board meeting.

Last December Shafee said his team would be writing to Putrajaya to seek an update on Najib’s bid for a royal pardon filed almost 10 months ago.

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