KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak did not receive any special treatment during his imprisonment, as claimed on social media recently.
Najib's counsel, Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah dismissed the allegations about Najib's time behind bars, which he described as "bull****".
Among other things, it was widely reported that Najib has allegedly been given the codename "merpati" (pigeon).
It was also claimed that his cell in the Kajang prison had been renovated; and that there had been plans to allegedly transfer him to the Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital (CRH) to allow more access to visitors and VVIP facilities.
"What merpati (pigeon)? That is bull****. It is also not fair to brand someone as 'merpati' (pigeon) as it can also be described as 'sissy'.
"If he received any such treatment, he would get a special room to have lunch in this court.
"He received the same treatment in Kajang prison," Shafee said when met after the adjournment of Najib's corruption trial for misappropriating funds from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MBD) in court today.
On Sept 21, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said no special treatment was given to Najib during his treatment at the CRH last week.
Najib was sent to the hospital based on Section 37 of the Prisons Act and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules).
The Prisons Department has so far issued two denials that Najib received special treatment in prison since he was first jailed last month.
Najib was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment and RM210 million fine for misappropriating RM42 million SRC International funds, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
Earlier, during the trial, Ambank Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager R. Uma Devi testified that a total of RM90.89 million was deposited into the Pekan member of parliament's personal bank account between October and November 2012.
She said RM15,149,963.64 was deposited into Najib's account on Oct 31 followed by RM 75,749,963.64 on Nov 20, 2012.
However, she did not state the sources of the funds.
She said Najib also made several payments to several entities and individuals between 2011 and 2012.
Najib is facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
The trial before Judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah is still ongoing.