KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak is disappointed he wasn’t given a full royal pardon of his 12-year prison sentence for graft, and may file a new appeal to the new monarch, his lawyer said Wednesday.
The decision last week by the Pardons Board to cut in half Najib’s jail term sparked outrage among many Malaysians, who slammed it as a mockery of the justice system and a blow to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s anti-corruption campaign. While the board isn’t required to explain its decision, it triggered calls for transparency in such high-profile cases.
Najib, 70, has been serving less than two years of his sentence linked to the theft of billions of dollars from the 1MDB state fund that has sparked investigations in the US and other countries. He is Malaysia’s first leader to be imprisoned after leaving office and still faces a major trial linked to 1MDB.
1MDB was a development fund that Najib set up shortly after taking power in 2009. Investigators allege at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates through layers of bank accounts in the US and other countries and financed Hollywood films and extravagant purchases that included hotels, a luxury yacht, art and jewelry. More than $700 million landed in Najib’s bank accounts.
His lawyer, Shafee Abdullah, said Najib was disappointed because he felt he wasn’t given a fair trial. He also questioned if there was interference in the Pardons’ Board process, chaired by the former king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.
Shafee alleged that Sultan Abdullah was initially looking at granting Najib a full pardon during the board’s meeting on Jan. 29. But the king asked members of the board to vote and the result was a commutation of the sentence and fine, he said.
“We are seriously thinking about another petition for pardon, a full pardon,” Shafee told a news conference. “The reason we want to put in another request is that we don’t think the Pardons Board operated the way the constitution expected them to operate. The king merely hears advice but he must then decide on his own.”
Anwar has said the pardon was the prerogative of Sultan Abdullah, who ended his five-year reign under Malaysia’s unique rotating monarch system just a day after the board’s meeting. Abdullah is from Najib’s home state of Pahang. Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, the powerful ruler of southern Johor state, took the throne on Jan. 31 for a five-year term.
Najib was found guilty in 2020 on seven charges of corruption for illegally receiving $9.4 million from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB. His wife, Rosmah Mansor, was also sentenced in 2022 to 10 years in prison and a record fine of 970 million ringgit for corruption involving a solar energy project and is out on bail pending an appeal.
Former Malaysian leader Najib Razak seeks full royal pardon, disappointed at commutation of sentence
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Former Malaysian leader Najib Razak seeks full royal pardon, disappointed at commutation of sentence
- Decision last week by the Pardons Board to cut in half Najib Razak’s jail term sparked outrage among many Malaysians
Kosovo voters cast ballots in a second attempt this year to elect a government and avoid more crisis
Kosovo voters cast ballots in a second attempt this year to elect a government and avoid more crisis
- The prime minister’s party is again the favorite in the race, but it is unclear whether it will manage to muster a majority this time in the 120-member parliament
PRISTINA: Voters in Kosovo cast ballots on Sunday in an early parliamentary election in hopes of breaking a political deadlock that has gripped the small Balkan nation for much of this year.
The snap vote was scheduled after Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s governing Vetevendosje, or Self-Determination, party failed to form a government despite winning the most votes in a Feb. 9 election.
The deadlock marked the first time Kosovo could not form a government since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following a 1998-99 war that ended in a NATO intervention.
The prime minister’s party is again the favorite in the race, but it is unclear whether it will manage to muster a majority this time in the 120-member parliament, after other mainstream parties refused an alliance.
According to Kosovo’s election laws, 20 parliamentary seats are automatically assigned to ethnic Serb representatives and other minority parties.
Another inconclusive vote would further deepen the crisis. Kosovo has already not approved a budget for next year, sparking fears of possible negative effects on the already poor economy in the country of 2 million people.
Lawmakers are set to elect a new president in March as current President Vjosa Osmani’s mandate expires in early April. If this fails too, another snap election must be held.
The main opposition parties are the Democratic League of Kosovo and the Democratic Party of Kosovo. They have accused Kurti of authoritarianism and of alienating Kosovo’s US and European Union allies since he came to power in 2021.
A former political prisoner during Serbia’s rule in Kosovo, the 50-year-old Kurti has taken a tough stand in talks mediated by the European Union on normalizing relations with Belgrade. In response, the EU and the United States imposed punitive measures.
Kurti has promised to buy military equipment to boost security.
No reliable pre-election polls have been published. Kurti’s party at the previous election won around 42 percent of the votes while the two main rival parties had together around 40 percent.
Analysts say that even the slightest changes in numbers on Sunday could prove decisive for the future distribution of power but that nothing is certain.
Tensions with restive ethnic Serbs in the north exploded in clashes in 2023 when scores of NATO-led peacekeepers were injured. In a positive step, ethnic Serb mayors this month took power peacefully there after a municipal vote.
Kurti has also agreed to accept third-country migrants deported from the United States as part of tough anti-immigration measures by the administration of President Donald Trump. One migrant has arrived so far, authorities have told The Associated Press.
Kosovo is one of the six Western Balkan countries striving to eventually join the EU, but both Kosovo and Serbia have been told they must first normalize relations.
