Najib’s daughter ‘disappointed’, insists ex-PM isn’t guilty

 

Nooryana Najwa said the family is sticking with its stand that her father is not guilty. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: Najib Razak’s daughter, Nooryana Najwa, has expressed disappointment with the Federal Territories Pardons Board’s decision not to grant her father a full pardon.

Nooryana said she appreciated the board’s decision to halve the former prime minister’s sentence from 12 years to six, but insisted that he should have been fully pardoned.

“We are sticking with our stand that Najib is not guilty,” she said in an Instagram post.

“Those who followed the SRC International case closely would agree with Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak Rahman Sebli’s judgment that Najib suffered a great injustice (during the trial).”

Rahman was the sole dissenting judge on the five-member Federal Court bench that heard Najib’s application for a review of the court’s decision to dismiss his SRC International appeal.

The judge said Najib had no legal representation when a Federal Court panel dismissed his final appeal, adding that the court’s refusal to grant an adjournment of the main appeals “had defeated altogether (Najib’s) right to be represented by an effective counsel”.

Rahman said while the court retained a discretion whether to grant an adjournment, the real issue was whether the exercise of that discretion had deprived Najib of his right to a fair hearing.

He said Najib was denied a fair hearing when defence counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik discharged himself after the panel insisted that the appeal must proceed.

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 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 to 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.

Najib’s defence had contended that trial judge Nazlan was under a serious conflict of interest when presiding over the SRC International trial two years earlier, citing his previous employment with Maybank.

Tengku Maimun had said there was no basis to suggest that Nazlan’s professional association with Maybank in any way affected his findings on the abuse of power charge. - FMT