NAJIB Razak took the “sumpah laknat” to swear that he did not know the RM42mil SRC International funds deposited into his personal account came from the company following a special prayer tonight.

Sumpah laknat literally means “curse swear”, and is an oath a Muslim makes to God, asking for divine retribution in the form of a curse against the other party if the latter is lying.

The former prime minister swore that he never published anything nor agreed to create SRC for the sake of embezzling funds for himself or his family.

He also swore that he never instructed any of SRC’s directors or officials to deposit funds into his personal account.

“I have never held a cabinet meeting to gain approval for a RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Incorporated with the intention of obtaining ill-gotten gains amounting to RM42mil,”

“If I am deceitful, then may I be condemned upon this oath and I will accept God’s wrath,” he recited the oath after the solat hajat” (prayer of need) at the Masjid Jamek mosque in Kg Baru tonight.

“I am standing here to clear my name and my family’s name. If I lie on this oath, Allah, may you punish me. If I am found innocent, if all of this is slander planned by my political enemies, I ask you to punish them,” he added.

Also attending the prayers was Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor, Umno secretary general Ahmad Maslan and Kelantan Umno chief Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub

This is the second time Najib performed the sumpah laknat at the mosque.

On December 20, 2019, he recited the oath over the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.

He took the religious oath to deny a former police commando’s statutory declaration that he had ordered him to kill Altantuya Shaariibuu.

“I must make it clear, the first time was during the 2007 Ijok by-election, and the second was in a small mosque during the 2008 Permatang Pauh by-election.”

“However, this oath is the biggest one of them all. Yet I stand firm with the truth, and fear God alone, which led me to do it in the first place,” Najib was quoted as saying in news reports.

Najib’s oath comes as his appeal reaches a climax of sorts on Tuesday when his lawyer is expected to submit his oral submission for his client.

On Friday, Najib’s lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik informed the five-member bench of the Federal Court led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat that he would not present oral submissions for his client.

Tengku Maimun said the court will deal with the matter on Tuesday. The court had set August 15-19 and August 23-26 to hear the appeal.

In the first two days of the proceedings, Teh had first sought to recuse himself from representing Najib but his request was turned down by the court and it directed the prosecution to submit.

Teh on Friday had told the panel that Najib had discharged his solicitors, Zaid Ibrahim Suflan TH Liew & Partners, from representing him.

The lawyer once again asked the court to postpone the hearing to Thursday as he had other cases on Tuesday and Wednesday, but this request was rejected by the court.

On Tuesday, the court had dismissed Teh’s application to postpone the appeal hearing and ordered the appeal to proceed on Thursday.

On July 28, 2020, then High Court Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, since elevated to the Court of Appeal,  sentenced Najib to 10 years in prison on each of the three counts of criminal breach of trust and each of the three counts of money laundering, and 12 years in prison and a RM210 million fine, in default five years in prison, in the case of abuse of power.

Last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision and dismissed Najib’s appeal to set aside his conviction and sentence. – August 21, 2022.