Najib Abdul Razak is seriously thinking about making a second application for a royal pardon, this time before the new Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The former prime minister’s lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah confirmed this during a press conference at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex today.
This comes after Najib was last week granted a partial pardon that resulted in the reduction of his 12-year jail sentence to six years and the fine slashed from RM210 million to RM50 million.
Shafee maintained that Najib did not get a fair trial during the RM42 million SRC International case, especially at the Federal Court in 2022.
This was because the apex court did not allow an application by Najib’s legal team for adjournment of the hearing to prepare for the appeal proceedings, the lawyer said.
It is unclear, Shafee said, if the process of the Pardons Board and the decisions made thereto are regular or not, reiterating that it is the Agong’s sole discretion to decide whether to give a full pardon or otherwise.
The lawyer claimed that the public pointed out alleged inconsistencies in the Pardons Board process.
‘Clumsy’ PMO statement
Shafee claimed that the wording of the Feb 2 media statement by the Prime Minister's Department was “clumsy”, whereby the document seemed to suggest that "the Pardons Board decided the pardon, not the Agong".
“As a result of these unsatisfactory features, we are looking at another application for a full royal pardon.
“We will decide when we will put in the application. We will have sufficient grounds, including some new ones,” Shafee said, adding that they are waiting for the right timing from Najib.
Shafee reiterated that his client was innocent from the start and that no wrongful money went into his pocket, adding that the former finance minister has not paid the RM50 million fine in the SRC case.
He stressed that Najib should not even be in prison as the accused's fundamental right to a fair trial had been violated.
When asked how Najib felt about the outcome of the last pardon bid, Shafee said the former Pekan MP was disappointed as Najib always maintained that he was innocent and should not have spent a day in prison.
Shafee also took aim at Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah's statement earlier today which stated that the Agong acts on the advice of the Pardons Board, reiterating that the ruler has sole discretion and can even ignore the board's advice if needed.
The lawyer said that Cheah ought to go back to law school. - Mkini
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