KUALA LUMPUR: Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has reiterated his commitment to assist and pursue justice for former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
"The legal channel is not the sole avenue to bring back and reunite Najib with his family. Laws have their constraints.
"There are other ways available that we can pursue and with the blessings of Najib's family.
"We must never lose hope; we must always strive and trust in Allah," he said in his speech at the Kelab Sahabat Najib 87 bi-annual general meeting held today.
Present were the club's president Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar, deputy Datuk Kamarudin Abdullah and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
Zahid, however, did not disclose the ways that would be taken in his efforts to freeing the former Umno president from behind bars.
Najib was sentenced to a 12-year jail term on July 28, 2020, after he was found guilty of abuse of power and criminal breach of trust involving RM42 million from SRC International, a former 1Malaysia Development Bhd's subsidiary.
The former Pekan member of Parliament was also fined RM210 million.
On Jan 29 this year, the Federal Territories Pardons Board, which the then King presided over, halved Najib's 12-year jail sentence for abuse of power and criminal breach of trust in the SRC International case and reduced his RM210 million fine to RM50 million.
Najib in his judicial review application to the High Court on April 1, claimed the then King issued an addendum order — also on Jan 29 — allowing him to serve the remainder of his jail sentence under house arrest.
He named the Home Minister, Prison Department commissioner general, Attorney-General (AG), Federal Territories Pardons Board, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Legal Affairs Division director-general, and the government as respondents.
On April 17, Zahid confirmed the existence of an addendum order from the former King allowing Najib to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.