IN her little book Hell Fire Is Real: My Experience, Hope Steward – who claimed to have been transported to hell twice within two years in her dream – painted hell as a land filled with misery where she could see souls tormented and burning eternally.
In a similar light, former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed that people who have never been indicted or fought a court case will not be able to understand the legal cost, the amount of time spent with lawyers/attend trial or even how long a court case can last.
Najib cited a court case whereby Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim filed a defamation suit on March 7, 2008 alleging that UMNO Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ) had uttered defamatory words about him (Anwar) during a ceramah in Lembah Pantai on Feb 20 the same year, to which he said:
“On Sept 17, 2021, which is 13 years later, this case STILL runs in the Court of Appeal. Not even at the Federal Court yet.
“How many times have Anwar and KJ entered the court and how much legal money has been spent since then?”
Najib further pointed to Anwar’s second sodomy trial whereby the PKR leader was charged in 2008 but was only found guilty seven years later by the Federal Court in February 2015.
“Another example is (former Penang Chief Minister Lim) Guan Eng’s bungalow case. He was charged in court in March 2016 prior to the commencement of his High Court trial in early 2018 before his case was dropped in September 2018,” Najib pointed out.
“That’s also at High Court level. Not yet at the Court of Appeals or Federal Court. Ask yourself if you want to be subject to wasting time, incurring hefty legal cost and anxiety for a period of seven to 13 years?”
Positioning himself as a politician, Najib therefore said the RM1.1 mil paid by Pontian MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan to settle his court case may be deemed worthy by the latter to avoid future legal costs, time cost and reputational scarring by being associated with the “court cluster”.
“In relation to this, to ensure that justice is served on the accused as well as to save legal costs for both parties, the Attorney-General’s (AG) office of the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government would only proceed with a legal action if there was adequate evidence and the probability of winning the case is as high as 90%,” recalled the ex-Premier.
“So, the most important question is why almost 100% of the cases filed by the AG’s office during the Pakatan Harapan (PH) rule ended up on the losing side?”
Earlier today, the Kuala Lumpur High Court acquitted Pontian Ahmad of two charges – for failing to declare RM2 mil and making a false statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) – after the latter paid a compound worth RM1.1 mil.
He was alleged to have committed the offence at the Inland Revenue Board, Duta Branch, Government Office Complex, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim, on April 30, 2014.
Najib also took a swipe at PH as to why Ahmad and UMNO veteran leader Tan Sri Shahrir Samad got indicted for receiving money from him but both Masjid Tanah MP Datuk Wira Mas Ermieyati Samsudin and Jeli MP Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed who jumped ship to BERSATU after the 14th General Election (GE14) went scot free even though they also received money from him.
“Have they (PH) misused government institutions to launch political attacks?” asked Najib. – Sept 29, 2021
