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Malaysia’s Pardon Board reduces former PM Najib’s 12-year sentence to 6 years

Malaysia’s Pardons Board granted a reduction in Najib Razak’s 12-year sentence to six years, allowing for potential release on 23 Aug 2028. The RM210 million fine was slashed to RM50 million, conditional on full payment for early release.

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After a week of rumour and speculation, the Pardons Board of Malaysia has finally disclosed its decision regarding the pardon application of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

On Friday (2 February), the Pardons Board declared a reduction in Najib’s initial 12-year jail term, halving it to six years.

Consequently, this adjustment implies an earlier potential release date of 23 August 2028.

Furthermore, the Pardons Board has opted to diminish his original RM210 million (approximately US$44.5 million) fine to RM50 million (approximately (US$10.6 million)), with the condition that his early release is contingent upon the full payment of this revised amount.

“If he fails to pay the (RM50 million) fine, a year will be added to Najib’s sentence, which means he would be released on 23 August 2029.”

In a statement, the secretariat of the Federal Territories Pardons Board said Najib’s application was among five it deliberated on when it met on Monday (29 January).

This partial royal pardon is related to Najib’s involvement in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) case, and it comes after he served more than one year and five months at Kajang Prison since 2022.

However, considering parole for good behaviour, there is a possibility of his release as early as August 2026, having completed two-thirds of the revised jail term.

An earlier report by Utusan Malaysia had indicated that the Pardons Board convened on the mentioned day, chaired by the then 16th Malaysian King, Al-Sultan Abdullah Riáyatuddin Mustafa Billah Shah.

As the Pahang ruler concluded his term as the country’s 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Johor ruler, Sultan Ibrahim Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, assumed the role of the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong for a five-year term starting 31 January.

The Malay language news outlet on Tuesday issued an apology over the article claiming that the former PM had been granted a royal pardon.

Public concerns grow over the fate of Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor in ongoing 1MDB cases

On 23 August 2022, Najib Razak was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined RM210 million after being found guilty of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.

Malaysians had waited for 4 years after Najib was first charged in 2018 to the date the Federal Court finally rejected his final appeals on 23 August 2022.

Najib’s lawyer, Shafee Abdullah, previously stated that a pardon application was initially submitted in September 2022, with subsequent addendums to the petition filed in October of that year and in April 2023.

In September 2023, Malaysia’s Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal of Najib Razak on an audit tampering charge in the investigation into corruption at the 1MDB state wealth fund.

Najib was acquitted in March after a Kuala Lumpur High Court judge ruled prosecutors failed to provide sufficient evidence that he had tampered with an audit report on scandal-racked 1MDB.

That charge focused on allegations that Najib ordered a report by the government’s official audit body on the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund to be altered in February 2016.

Najib’s acquittal from the tampering charge does not affect his current jail sentence and he faces dozens more charges that could lengthen that term.

Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor was found guilty of graft in 2022 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

She remains on bail pending an appeal.

The potential for Najib Razak’s remaining three cases related to 1MDB and income tax, as well as Rosmah Mansor’s RM7.1 million money laundering and tax evasion case, to face similar outcomes, has raised alarms among the Malaysian public.

Civil society group in Malaysia in October last year warned that if Najib and Rosmah are released from corruption charges, it could have detrimental consequences, damaging Malaysia’s rule of law and deterring global investors.

They called for a temporary halt to applications for Discharge Not Amounting to Acquittal (DNAA) or complete acquittals in cases involving politicians.

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At least got some jail time and fine. If a white monkey in SG under the pappies, it will just be No Blaming Culture, case closed.

He has billions stashed that is why UMNO want him out. AI allowed this to happen in exchange for his premiership. This will cause PKR to lose votes to Bersatu. DAP the party that won the most votes should distance themselves from AI and quit the Unity govt. immediately. They should clearly move away from AI if they don’t want to lose their voter base.

Mahathir came out of retirement to put Najib in jail. He even appointed the best legal brains in Malaysia as AG to get the work done and now AI and the Agong have betrayed the Malaysians. Looks like it is lucrative to steal in billions in Malaysia. You get to keep three quarters of it. It is bad news for the Ringgit which has hit a new low and investments in Malaysia will do an outflow. We will lose more monies if we continue to invest in Malaysia.

I note that a lot of the criticisms in Malaysia are directed to the Pardons Board for this travesty in granting a partial pardon for Najib.

So far, nobody has dared to directly point out that the former Agong chaired the meeting and that it is his (Agong’s) sole perogative on the final pardon or otherwise.

The Agong is not obligated to heed the Pardons Board’s recommendation. Thus the Agong bears full responsibility and accountability for the final decision.

If opponents of the partial pardon want to, they should therefore direct their unhappiness at the Agong.

there are no “free” chicken wings in the world…….tsk tsk tsk

Cotton lovers & Pineapple lovers wake up. tsk tsk tsk.

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