KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim denied allegations suggesting that the unity government was “lax” and lacked firmness in addressing corruption issues.
His comments came in response to the Pardon Board’s decision to reduce former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s jail term to six years and cut the fine he must pay to RM50 million from the court-ordered RM210 million.
Anwar ensured that the ongoing corruption-related judicial proceedings underscored his administration’s unwavering commitment to combatting corruption in the country.
“The issue that is being raised here is that, allegedly, we are being lax on corruption issues now; this is not true.
“The judicial process would continue,” he said, adding that never at any time had Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi given him an ultimatum regarding Najib’s pardon.
“He (Najib) or his party has the right to have the prime minister and the Pardons Board consider it,” he said during the Prime Minister’s Department’s monthly assembly today.
Anwar further said that the unity government has many priorities now, including economic matters and the review of civil servants’ salaries.
Last Friday, the Pardons Board halved Najib’s jail term to six years and cut the fine he must pay to RM50 million from the court-ordered RM210 million.
Najib began his initial 12-year prison term on August 23, 2022, following the Federal Court’s dismissal of his final appeal in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
He was tried before justice Nazlan Ghazali (now a Court of Appeal judge) in the Kuala Lumpur High Court on seven counts of abuse of power, money laundering, and criminal breach of trust involving RM42 million in funds belonging to SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
On July 28, 2020, he was convicted on all counts and sentenced to a 12-year jail term on each charge. Nazlan ordered that the jail terms run concurrently. – February 5, 2024