UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today his predecessor, Najib Razak, should not be hurt and offended by comments made by party leaders who are uneasy over his prominent role despite facing multiple corruption charges.

Zahid said party leaders should not air their grievances in the media, in a veiled criticism against secretary-general Annuar Musa and Titiwangsa Umno division chief Johari Abdul Ghani.

“Whether he has become baggage to the party is another thing. His cases are still before the court. In our party constitution he is still a member until found guilty of any crime by the court.

“He is a division chief and the Pekan MP,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby as he defended Najib over criticism from some party leaders.

Annuar told The Malaysian Insight that the party views Najib as “baggage” and needs to work on gaining lost support.

The comment yesterday was made hours after Najib was slapped with three charges of money-laundering related to RM42 million from a former 1MDB unit deposited into his account.

On July 4, Najib was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of misusing his position. All seven charges so far are linked to SRC International Bhd, an energy subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd. 

Johari said earlier Najib should not be allowed to campaign for Barisan Nasional in the upcoming by-elections. 

He questioned Umno’s move to let Najib campaign for its candidate in the recent Sg Kandis by-election, which it lost to PKR by nearly 6,000 votes. – August 9, 2018.