PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Najib Razak’s prison sentence has been reduced from 12 to six years.
In a statement, the secretariat of the Federal Territories Pardons Board (FTPB) said Najib will be released on Aug 23, 2028.
The former Pekan MP’s fine has also been reduced from RM210 million to RM50 million.
“However, if Najib fails to pay the (RM50 million) fine, a year will be added to his sentence, which means he will be released on Aug 23, 2029.”
The FTPB said Najib’s application was among five it deliberated on when it met on Monday.
His lawyer, Shafee Abdullah, previously said the petition for pardon was first submitted in September 2022.
Najib began his initial 12-year prison term on Aug 23, 2022 following the Federal Court’s dismissal of his final appeal in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
He was tried before Justice Nazlan Ghazali (now a Court of Appeal judge) in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on seven counts of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust involving RM42 million in funds belonging SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
On July 28, 2020, he was convicted on all counts and sentenced to a 12-year jail term on each charge. Nazlan ordered that the jail terms run concurrently.
Najib’s conviction and sentence were subsequently affirmed by the Court of Appeal on Dec 8, 2021.
On Aug 23 the following year, a five-member panel of the Federal Court, chaired by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, dismissed his final appeal. The apex court also ordered Najib to begin his term of imprisonment immediately.
The former Umno president will complete 18 months of his jail term on Feb 22 this year.
Najib, 70, has three other criminal cases which are still ongoing.
He is presently on trial on 25 counts of abuse of power and money laundering involving RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds deposited into his AmBank accounts between 2011 and 2014.
He is also facing three charges for money laundering involving RM27 million via three AmPrivate banking accounts.
Together with Irwan Siregar Abdullah, he faces another six charges for misappropriating RM6.6 billion in public funds involving payments to IPIC, an Abu Dhabi state-owned entity.
In March last year, the High Court acquitted Najib of a charge of abuse of power in relation to the alleged tampering of the contents of a 1MDB audit report, a decision which was upheld by the Court of Appeal six months later. - FMT
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