FORMER prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has arrived at the Kuala Lumpur High Court to attend his 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption trial, his first public appearance since he was jailed on Tuesday (Aug 23).
According to news reports, Najib arrived in a police SUV clad in a grey suit and tie, along with the usual convoy of motorcycle riders, police vehicles and the new addition of a Prisons Department van.
Bernama reported that the High Court had issued an order to the Kajang prison – where Najib will serve out his 12-year jail sentence – to produce the Pekan MP to attend today’s proceedings before Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah.
The courtroom hearing Najib’s case was notably barricaded, according to Free Malaysia Today (FMT), while members of the public were reportedly barred from waiting outside the courtroom as they can usually do.
Malaysiakini, on the other hand, indicated that the court complex in Jalan Duta was calm, a stark difference from outside the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya earlier this week where Najib’s supporters were crying and calling for his release after the Federal Court upheld his conviction in his SRC International case and he was sent to jail.
Najib is in court again to face trial for his 1MDB corruption trial, where he faces four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totaling RM2.3 bil from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The UMNO leader and former finance minister will be going in and out of the Kajang jail as he still has several other 1MDB-related court cases to attend.
“Double standards”
Netizens on Twitter, meanwhile, were incensed that Najib, as a convict, is being ferried to and from jail in an SUV, raising concerns of double standards as prisoners usually do not get such privileges.
When Najib left the Federal Court for jail on Tuesday, he was ferried away in an SUV as well. His convoy also left through a discrete route out of the back of the Palace of Justice, instead of through the front public entrance.
Some, however, pointed out that these were common practices in high-profile, high-interest cases, adding that PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim too left the Palace of Justice in an unmarked SUV after his sodomy case appeal was rejected in 2015.
“The Black Marias are normally escorted by one patrol vehicle and that’s it,” wrote media personality Aiman I Abdullah. “The convoy would be very easy to intercept, and the truck itself easy to overturn.
“In cases like these, they use smaller, faster vehicles to transfer the criminal quicker. Smaller vehicles also help the convoy respond when needed – in (the) event of any kind of planned interruption along the route, whether it’s a tight U-turn or squeezing through traffic.”
He added: “This is entirely above board. Just because you don’t know protocols, don’t scream ‘double standard’.”
On Tuesday, the Federal Court rejected Najib’s final appeal in his RM42 mil SRC International corruption case, and upheld his seven charges of power abuse, criminal breach of trust and money laundering, RM210 mil fine and 12-year jail sentence.
SRC International is a former 1MDB subsidiary company. Najib used to be SRC’s adviser emeritus and chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers. – Aug 25, 2022
Main pic credit: The Star
