KUALA LUMPUR – Much has been said about the Pardons Board’s decision on convicted former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, but how does the man himself feel about it while in Kajang Prison? He told his daughter, Nooryana Najwa, that he was “disappointed, very, very disappointed”.
“You know, Yana, the worst feeling is when you are in shock and there’s no one around to speak to. You are lost in your thoughts, all alone,” she posted on Instagram late last night.
She had visited him in prison and he had a copy of the board’s decision that was signed by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong and federal territories minister.
Nooryana added that Najib looked weary, perhaps due to his lack of sleep thinking about the decision handed to him on Friday.
“He waited for five days, full of hope. Everyone around him gave words of encouragement, saying, “Insya-Allah Datuk, sikit masa saja lagi” (God willing, grandpa, a little while longer).
“The prison guards thought they would see Najib for the last time on Monday (January 29) when he left prison to head to court and prayed for the best – as the Pardons Board met that day,” wrote Nooryana in the caption.
She also wrote that Najib told the guards that he longed to visit the graves of his parents when he was granted his freedom, however, it was not to be.
“He is being punished for giving money to charity. He is being punished for wanting more time to prove his innocence. He is being punished because his blood is Umno and he will never surrender for his party. He is being punished just because he is Bossku, just because he is Najib Razak,” she claimed.
Nooryana then reiterated that the main argument of the pardon petition was that the SRC International case was a miscarriage of justice.
“He did not get a fair trial. The facts stand that he was sent to prison without effective representation. He was sentenced without the merits of the appeal heard.”
She said his petition included a conflict of interest involving presiding judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and a leak of the final verdict, which was prepared before the appeal ended.
The Umno Supreme Council decided yesterday to gather signatures with the help of the party’s division chiefs to appeal for Najib to get a full pardon.
The signatures would be used to appeal to the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong to reconsider the Pardons Board’s decision.
On Friday, the Pardons Board secretariat for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya announced that Najib had been granted a reduced jail sentence and fine.
Najib’s jail sentence was halved from 12 years to six, while his fine was reduced from RM210 million to RM50 million.
He would have to serve an additional year in prison in default should he fail to pay the fine.
Najib began serving his prison sentence on August 23, 2022, after losing his final appeal at the Federal Court. He submitted his application for a royal pardon in September the same year.
The former Umno president was convicted by the high court in July 2020 of corruption involving RM42 million of funds belonging to SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd. – February 4, 2024