KUALA LUMPUR: A decision by the Pardons Board's on former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's application may be made known today (January 30) as apparently the board has come to a decision on the matter.
The Pardons Board had scheduled a meeting for yesterday (January 29), with one of the agendas being Najib's jail term and the Board went ahead with the meeting, reported Utusan Malaysia.
According to the report, the meeting was to be the last official meeting for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah before the end of his reign today.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa was quoted as saying that the meeting had previously been postponed several times, as quoted by Utusan.
"As of today (January 28), I was informed that the meeting will take place [on January 29] but am not sure if it has been postponed again, as the meeting was postponed several times.
"What I can confirm is that the Pardons Board meeting will be chaired by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong," Zaliha was quoted as saying when contacted by Utusan on Sunday.
murmurs of Najib's prison sentence has surfaced recently. On January 10, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil revealed that the Cabinet meeting had not touched on matters involving the Pardons Board, which include Najib's case.
Fahmi also said that the Cabinet 'cannot supersede the process'.
Najib is currently facing a 12-year jail term after he was found guilty of one count of abuse of power with regard to Retirement Fund Inc's (KWAP) RM4 billion loan to SRC International Sdn Bhd, as well as three counts each of criminal breach of trust and abuse of power invovlving RM42 million of SRC funds.
SRC is a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), and in August 2022, the Federal Court upheld the conviction.
In Malaysia, each state has its own Pardons Board chaired by the respective sultan or Yang di-Pertua (or governor).
The Pardons Board for each state is made up of five members, namely the attorney general, the chief minister or menteri besar, and three other members appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the state ruler.
For the Federal Territories, the prime minister is one of the board members, as the territory falls under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Department.
Yesterday the New Straits Times (NST) had published a news report that Datuk Seri Najib Razak's defence team was unaware of any meeting by the Pardons Board that was reportedly scheduled to be held yesterday (January 29).
Najib's lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told the New Straits Times that no one was kept in the loop about the meeting.