The Malaysian Insight

UMNO deputy president Mohamad Hasan said today former prime minister Najib Razak must be given a fair trial in the court of law.

Mohamad was responding to an article published in Asia Times, which quoted him as saying that Najib should go to jail.

“(What they reported) is inaccurate,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“What I said was that Najib needs to be given a fair trial. If he is found guilty, then so be it. But it must be a fair trial.”

Asia Times quoted Mohamad as saying that Najib must pay his dues before a pardon can be considered.

“Everybody has to pay their dues. But if we want to pardon, he (Najib) has to go through the process. He’ll have to go inside first,” Asia Times reported Mohamad as saying.

Mohamad, however, said he was merely explaining the pardon process to the news portal.

“I was merely explaining that a pardon will be considered after the person starts serving their sentence,” he said.

Mohamad was quoted by Asia Times also pinning the whole 1MDB debacle on Najib.

“It was done on an off-balance sheet, done by one person: the prime minister and he was also finance minister. He also took charge of 1MDB. That’s how the problem started.”

He also contended that had Umno and Barisan Nasional taken the 1MDB issue more seriously, the coalition may not have been voted out in the 2018 general election.

In July 2020, Najib was convicted of criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering in relation to RM42 million belonging to SRC International, a subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who presided over the case, sentenced him to 12 years in jail and fined him RM210 million. The decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal last December.

It is now in its final leg of appeal at the Federal Court, which will hear the case on August 15.

Najib and his lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, had contended that the Pekan MP was not given a fair trial because Nazlan was a legal counsel to Maybank, a lender to SRC, and should have recused himself.

Separately, Najib is also facing other 1MDB-related trials – for tampering with the firm’s audit report, and for money laundering and corruption involving RM2.3 billion of 1MDB funds. – July 5, 2022.