NAJIB Razak is likely to receive a pardon at some point, said former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. 

“(This is) because Najib’s SRC International case took a very long time (four years). Many (other) cases of theft, misuse of power and corruption involving political figures were delayed and not brought to court,” the Langkawi MP said in a statement today. 

“Some criminals have even died. Delays in trials will result in justice being neglected,” he noted. 

“There is an English saying that says ‘justice delayed is justice denied’, which we can translate as ‘justice delayed is justice neglected’. 

“For Najib, there is a possibility he will be pardoned after being incarcerated, “ he said.

The Pejuang chairman said Najib is on trial for other charges as well, and these cases may also be delayed, while noting that judges themselves may not be too happy with more delays. 

“The delay was made worse by Najib’s treatment of his lawyers and various reasons were used to delay and prevent the trial from reaching its conclusion,” he said in the statement. 

On Tuesday, the Federal Court affirmed the High Court’s sentence in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case and ordered him to begin his 12-year sentence in Kajang Prison. 

He also has to pay a fine of RM210 million. 

While the SRC International case has concluded, Najib still has five ongoing trials, meaning he will be leaving the prison quite often to attend his court cases. 

In the 1MDB trial, Najib is facing 25 charges.

Four of them are counts of abuse of power under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act 2009 for offences allegedly committed between February 24, 2011, and December 19, 2014. 

The remaining 21 are for money laundering under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001. The money laundering charges involve nine counts of receiving RM2.08 billion, seven counts of transferring RM2.19 billion and five counts of using RM22.65 million. – August 25, 2022.