FORMER prime minister Najib Razak, who is convicted of corruption and abuse of power, said today he did not receive any special treatment in getting his impounded passport back temporarily to travel to Singapore.

Najib was responding to Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who yesterday questioned how the Pekan MP was able to get his passport to travel to Singapore to visit his daughter, Nooryana Najwa.

“What kind of government is this?” Dr Mahathir, who is Pejuang chairman, had asked.

Last week, the Court of Appeal allowed Najib’s impounded passport to be returned temporarily for him to travel to Singapore.

And earlier today, three separate high courts allowed Najib’s amendments to the period of his passport release so that he would be able to lead Barisan Nasional in the Malacca elections.

Three separate judges allowed Najib to have his travel document release period revised to October 25 to December 6 to go to Singapore.

In a Facebook post today, Najib said he applied to the court to get his passport back, and not to the government.

“What special treatment?” he asked.

“I applied for the temporary release of my passport from the court. I did not appeal to the attorney-general to withdraw the charges like (Lim) Guan Eng,” he said, referring to the DAP secretary-general and former finance minister in Dr Mahathir’s government.

He said the decision to release his passport was made unanimously by three high court judges and the Court of Appeal.

“If Atok (Dr Mahathir) is not satisfied, he can rap the learned Court of Appeal judges,” he said.

“Hold a press conference and call out the judges,” he added.

The Pekan MP said the judges are not inexperienced in criminal cases, unlike a civil judge who was transferred to the criminal courts out of the blue to preside over his SRC International trial.

Najib was alluding to Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, who convicted him of corruption in July last year.

Nazlan had presided over civil cases before taking over Najib’s case.

“This is the different treatment Atok had given me when he was the seventh prime minister.

“What are Atok’s comments on this?” he asked. – October 26, 2021.