Najib goes to jail after top court upholds sentence in 1MDB scandal
MALAYSIA’S highest court Tuesday (Aug 23) upheld former prime minister Najib Razak’s 12-year jail sentence for corruption in the 1MDB financial scandal.
The Federal Court also ordered Najib to begin his prison sentence on Tuesday and the former premier, dressed impeccably in a dark suit and grey tie, was taken straight to jail from the courthouse.
“We find the appeal devoid of any merits. We find the conviction and sentence to be safe,” Chief Justice Maimun Tuan Mat said on behalf of a five-judge panel.
“Based on the foregoing, it is our unanimous view that the evidence led during the trial points overwhelmingly to guilt on all seven charges.”
Maimun said “it would have been a travesty of justice of the highest order if any reasonable tribunal, faced with such evidence staring it in the face, were to find that the appellant is not guilty of the seven charges preferred against him”.
“The defence is so inherently inconsistent and incredible that it has not raised reasonable doubt on the case... We also find that the sentence imposed is not manifestly excessive,” she said.
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The Federal Court decision was handed down after the tribunal threw out a last-minute move by Najib’s lawyers to recuse the chief justice from hearing the case, alleging bias on her part.
Najib is a UK-educated son of one of Malaysia’s founding fathers who had been groomed for the prime minister’s post from a young age.
The final ruling on the jail sentence also came four years after his long-ruling party’s shock election defeat in 2018, during which allegations he and his friends embezzled billions of dollars from state fund 1MDB were key campaign issues.
A lower court in July 2020 found Najib guilty of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust over the transfer of US$10.1 million from SRC International, a former unit of state fund 1MDB, to his personal bank account.
An appellate court in December denied his appeal, prompting him to go to the Federal Court for a final recourse.
Najib was seated in the dock as the verdict was read out. His wife, Rosmah Mansor, and three children were seated behind him.
Addressing the court moments before the final verdict was delivered, Najib said he was the victim of an injustice, while requesting for another two months for his new lawyers to prepare for his appeal.
“The upshot of what I am asking is a mere 2 months postponement adjournment of the hearing of the appeal as opposed to my life and liberty being shortened by 12 years of imprisonment,” he said.
“It’s the worst feeling to have to realise that the might of the judiciary is pinned against me in the most unfair manner,” Najib told the court.
Security officials gathered around the bespectacled former premier after the verdict and he was later seen leaving court in a black car with police escort.
A court official and sources close to Najib said he was taken to Kajang Prison, about 40 km away from capital Kuala Lumpur.
Prosecutors have said some $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB - co-founded by Najib during his first year as prime minister in 2009. Investigators say they had traced more than $1 billion of 1MDB money to accounts linked to Najib.
The wide-ranging scandal has implicated officials and financial institutions around the world, and prompted the US Department of Justice to open what became its biggest kleptocracy investigation.
The verdict against Najib will bring a sense of anguish for his supporters and could spur Umno to rally its supporters for the federal elections, said Bridget Welsh, Honorary Research Associate with the University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute Malaysia.
“It also opens up the way for new leadership and I think that’s part of what is happening in terms of this period of political transition,” Welsh said, referring to the party. “It’ll be very difficult in the short term for Najib to have as much political power as he’s wielded.”
The former leader could eventually get out by jail by seeking a pardon from Malaysia’s king in the same way current opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was given one in 2018.
Malaysia’s longest serving leader Mahathir Mohamad told Bloomberg News in an interview Monday that he saw a “50-50 chance” Najib would get the royal pardon, return to politics and aim again for the country’s top job.
Najib’s legal team is discussing the possibility of a judicial review of the final decision though legal experts have said that this may not succeed as the whole appeal process has been exhausted.
“We are very sad because we lost the appeal,” Najib’s main lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, told reporters after the verdict. “I’ll only say that we seek comfort and solace - in the words of a great Indian jurist who said that the almighty alone can dispense perfect justice.” AFP, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
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