NAJIB Razak betrayed public trust when he abused his power to siphon RM42 million into his personal account from SRC International, making him the first former prime minister to be charged and convicted in Malaysia.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali said Najib’s case was among the worst cases of power abuse seen in Malaysia and his sentencing should serve as a deterrent for future offenders.
“His conviction of all seven charges concerning abuse of position, criminal breach of trust and money laundering constitutes nothing less than an absolute betrayal of that trust.
“For this reason, I consider that the conviction of the accused for abuse of position under Section 23 of the MACC Act as the most serious transgression amongst the three given his position of trust as the nation’s prime minister and finance minister when the offences were committed,” Nazlan said in his 536-page written judgment.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court found Najib guilty on July 29 for for all seven criminal charges – three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money-laundering and one count of abuse of power – over the illicitly received RM42 million
The Pekan MP was sentenced to serve 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million for seven charges. Failure to pay the fine will incur five more years of jail time.
Nazlan said the case was even more heinous as Najib had got RM4 billion in loans from Malaysia’s largest public services pension fund for SRC while he was prime minister.
“Having considered all relevant considerations, especially recognising that each of these seven charges of serious offences reflects a scenario of a near worst imaginable case given the premeditation and sophistication in the manner these offences were committed, the loss of public funds of RM42 million belonging to SRC which was instead used for the accused’s own benefit and advantage, and most critically, the fact that these grave offences were committed by the accused when he held the ultimate position of public trust as the prime minister of the nation,” Nazlan said.
On the corruption and money-laundering charges, Nazlan said the defence’s argument that Najib received money from the late King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia cannot be sustained because there is no evidence the Pekan MP attempted to verify the donation or the purpose of it with the king or the government of Saudi Arabia.
A week after he was found guilty by the high court of illicitly receiving RM42 million, Najib said the money was not a bribe or for personal gain but for welfare programmes, including to help orphans.
The 67-year-old posted a video on Facebook calling his verdict unfair. He said 99% of the money from SRC International that went into his accounts in 2014 and 2015 was used for corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.
Najib was convicted of three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering and a single charge of abuse of power in connection with SRC International, formerly a subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
He was sentenced to 10 years in jail for each count of CBT and each count of money laundering of which he was convicted. For abuse of power, he was sent to jail for 12 years and fined RM210 million or five years’ jail in default.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
The court ordered the former prime minister to report to a police station twice a month while he is out on bail. – September 9, 2020.
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