Clear ‘confusion’ created by Malaysian Bar, Puad tells Zaliha, AG
Puad Zarkashi says the motion passed by the Bar at its annual general meeting suggests the pardons board had ‘acted unfairly’ in granting Najib Razak the reduced sentence.
(FMT) – There is a need to clear the air over the “confusion” created by the Malaysian Bar in Najib Razak’s commuted sentence, says Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi.
The federal territories minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa and attorney-general Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh must address this issue properly, Puad said in a Facebook post.
He said the motion passed by the Bar in its annual general meeting yesterday suggested that the Federal Territories Pardons Board had “acted unfairly” in granting Najib the commuted sentence and that the matter is not the prerogative of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Yesterday, the Malaysian Bar’s AGM approved a motion to file a legal challenge against the pardons board over the decision to halve the former prime minister’s jail sentence for his SRC International corruption conviction.
Former Malaysian Bar president Zainur Zakaria told FMT the motion was passed with an “overwhelming majority”.
Zainur, who submitted the motion for the Bar members’ deliberation, claimed that the pardons board had “acted ultra vires Article 42 of the Federal Constitution” in slashing Najib’s 12-year jail sentence to six years and reducing the RM210 million fine to RM50 million.
He was previously reported to have said that with Najib having only served one-and-a-half years of his jail sentence, the former prime minister’s application for a pardon should not have been processed and determined in the first place.
He further claimed that Najib had “never shown any remorse or contrition as to his involvement in the 1MDB affairs” and continued to claim that the court had not treated him fairly.
However, Puad said he was not surprised by the motion that was passed by the Malaysian Bar, as it “was often biased and played politics”.
“Najib didn’t apply for a reduced sentence – he had applied for a full pardon on grounds that he did not receive a fair trial.
“I challenge them (the Malaysian Bar) to respond to Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli’s dissenting judgment. He said Najib should have been acquitted after being denied a fair trial,” Puad said.
