DR Mahathir Mohamad has once again questioned the plea bargain which the government had entered in the case of Riza Aziz.

Under the deal, Najib Razak’s stepson was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on May 14 over his five counts of laundering some US$248 million (RM1.07 billion) alleged to have been siphoned from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)

“Call it by any name but the settlement is unique.

“A thief steals money and when arrested is charged with stealing or abusing power or retaining illegally acquired money and asked to give back some of the money. He then will be discharged though not acquitted.

“Not being acquitted means he is still guilty as charged. That’s okay. All he has to do is to give back less than half of the money he has stolen. This means he will enjoy more than half of the money he had stolen and be a free man,” the former prime minister wrote on his blog today.

He was responding to Najib’s recent remarks that that the decision with regard to the charge of money-laundering against Riza was proper because money-laundering is not a crime, and that the settlement was not a “plea bargain”.

“If it is not a crime then what is his discharge not amounting to an acquittal about – acquittal for what if money-laundering is not a crime?” rebutted Dr Mahathir.

“What do you call this generosity if it is not a plea bargain?”

He also agreed with PKR president Anwar Ibrahim’s observation on the matter by saying that in Malaysia one can steal 10 chickens but “if you give back one chicken then you are free to enjoy the nine others”.

“This is great for thieves. Maybe it is also great for certain lawyers.

“But we have to keep a close watch of our pockets and safes. And foreign tourists too should be careful. This is the new normal in Malaysia,” said Dr Mahathir.

Previously, Dr Mahathir had said that Malaysia had never practised the concept of a plea bargain, adding that under the deal Riza was only returning less than the amount he had allegedly received from 1MDB.

“So what Riza is willing to return is less than half of the money which will be seized by the DOJ, which the department is going to return to Malaysia.

“The bigger chunk of the money stolen by Riza would be retained by him. In other words, he is going to retain money stolen by him and be acquitted as well,” he had said. – June 22, 2020.