AS the push for the royal pardon of incarcerated ex-premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak has intensified with the hope of enabling the former Pekan MP to celebrate Aidilfitri at the comfort of his home, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is now staring at the prospect of even his own deputy seeking an escape route from the long arms of the law.
While UMNO appears to be in a hurry to push for an early pardon for Najib by leveraging the solitary dissenting judgment of chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli, Zahid who is also the party’s president has sought to have his charges for misappropriating RM31 mil of funds from his foundation Yayasan Akalbudi (YAB) dropped.
His lawyer Hamidi Mohd Noh told this to Court of Appeal judge Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah who is presiding at the High Court, citing “new facts and evidence” in the case.
Hamidi sought for the trial which was to resume today (April 10) to be postponed because of the latest development and to wait for the decision on the representation.
According to Hamidi, the representation letter which contained more than 200 pages was addressed to Attorney-General Tan Sri Idrus Harun himself and the prosecution would need to study it.
The prosecution did not object to the postponement with deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Abdul Malik Ayob confirming that the prosecution had received the lengthy representation letter which he described as containing “complex issues”.
Justice Sequerah allowed the postponement by fixing Aug 1 for parties to inform the court on the result of the representation.
On Jan 24, last year, Zahid who is also the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman and Bagan Datuk MP was ordered to enter his defence against all 47 corruption charges involving funds from YAB, a charity foundation which he had set up.
Sequerah ruled that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against the 68-year old DPM who is also the Rural and Regional Development Minister on all 12 criminal breach of trust (CBT), eight corruption and 27 money laundering charges.
Anwar who is also the Finance Minister had earlier quashed critics by asserting that there is no conflict of interest on the government’s part following UMNO’s decision to submit a royal pardon application for Najib to the Yang di-Dipertuan Agong (YDPA) to consider.
In Anwar’s justification, the matter should not arise as everyone can apply for a pardon while all parties should comply with the stipulated rules and conditions.
“Even though it goes through a process and I am in that process, in the end, the question of awarding medals and pardons is the authority and discretion of the YDPA and does not need to be discussed publicly,” contended the Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman.
Anwar further quantified that there is no conflict of interest with him sitting on the Pardons’ Board that will review Najib’s royal pardon application as the final decision on granting pardons lies with the YDPA. – April 10, 2023
Main pic credit: AFP
