The prosecution wants the jail term to begin after Najib Razak completes his current sentence in the RM42 million SRC International case.
Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib also sought for the custodial sentence to begin after Najib completes his current sentence in the RM42 million SRC International case.
In the SRC International case, the Federal Territories Pardon Board halved Najib’s 12-year jail to six years. He is scheduled to be released in 2028.
Earlier today, the High Court found Najib guilty of 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering involving RM2.28 billion in 1MDB funds deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
The prosecution also sought a concurrent sentence of 20 years for Najib on the four graft charges.
Akram said the RM11.39 billion fine for the four abuse of power charges is as the law prescribed, that those found guilty for graft face a fine of five times of the gratification sum.
He said the quantum involved in this 1MDB case was RM2.28 billion.
Meanwhile, the jail sentence sought for the 21 charges under Section 4(1) of Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities (Amla) was less than 15 years.
Akram said that “this case is first of its kind” as Najib was a former prime minister and the sum involved was billions of ringgit.
“We hope there will never be another case like this in Malaysian history,” he added.
Akram also mentioned that the government, as of today, has to bear 1MDB’s debt, totalling RM50 billion.
“The government said in the Dewan Rakyat recently that we had paid RM42 billion and had recovered RM29 billion.
For the money laundering charges, Akmal also asked the court to impose a penalty equivalent to the value of the proceeds of unlawful activity, which have been disposed of or cannot be traced as a sum to be recoverable.
Show my client leniency, Shafee pleads
Meanwhile, Najib’s counsel Shafee Abdullah urged the Judge to show leniency to his client.
He argued that there was no evidence Najib used the disputed funds for personal luxury.
“The overwhelming portion of the relevant funds was used for political, social, and welfare activities under the Barisan Nasional framework.
“The limited personal expenditure was functional in nature, related to official obligations as a sitting prime minister,” he said.
Shafee added that Najib’s voluntary return of US$620 million, nearly the entire sum of received donation (US$681 million), speaks to the absence of profit motive and supports his bona fide belief in the legitimacy of the transaction.
On remorse, Shafee told the court that Najib had shown deep and genuine contrition over the 1MDB affair.
He referred to a written letter Najib authored while incarcerated at Kajang Prison, which was publicly read by his son Nizar Najib at a press conference on Oct 24 last year.
In the letter, Najib acknowledged that it pained him daily to know the 1MDB debacle had occurred under his watch as both finance minister and prime minister, and apologised unreservedly to the Malaysian people.
“This apology was made voluntarily, without qualification, and reflects sincere contrition and moral accountability.
“Without prejudice to his legal position, the accused respectfully submits that this public expression of remorse demonstrates acceptance of responsibility at a personal level and ought to be given due weight by this honourable court in exercising leniency in sentencing,” he said.
Shafee also urged the court to order any sentence imposed to run concurrently with Najib’s existing sentences, arguing that the offences arose from the same factual matrix and formed part of a continuous transaction.
To impose consecutive sentences, Shafee submitted, would amount to punishing the same factual complex multiple times. - FMT
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