Ex-PM Najib denied justice under M’sia’s warped ‘rule of law’
PUTRAJAYA – The much-loved 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak on Tuesday (Aug 23) failed in his final appeal against a graft conviction, which is set to see him serve 12 years in jail.
The Federal Court, in controversial move after move which allegedly violated the rule of law, may have acted with impunity — when it saw no reason to interfere in two lower court Rulings against former Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on the RM42m SRC International case.
Earlier, his defence team had sought to recuse the Chief Justice for certain discrepancies in the proceedings, but this was later rejected by the court after a stand-down.
Final Appeal For Najib
Knocking back Najib’s final appeal, the Federal Court also denied his request for a stay of sentence.Najib, 69, was found guilty by a lower court in July 2020 of criminal breach of trust, abuse of power, and money laundering for illegally receiving about $10 million from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB. He had been out on bail and pending appeals.
“The Ruling may be unanimous but it wasn’t based on the rule of law,” says a legal advisor who spoke on condition of anonymity.
There was rush to judgment when the Apex Court buried justice when it hurried justice, he added.
Interestingly, the 15-Page Federal Court Ruling on the RM42m SRC International case was made available on the Internet after blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin uploaded on his Malaysia-Today site.
The blogger who released the Ruling may have had access to the actual Ruling prepared in advance by the Federal Court. If so, it’s yet another violation of the rule of law, when Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat read from the same text word by word.
The Federal Court, it has been alleged, has been acting with impunity on the Appeal and falling back on the letter of the law.
“It’s unconstitutional to fall back on anything other than the rule of law. The rule of law is the basis of the Constitution,” the lawyer pointed out. – New Malaysia Herald
Datin Hasnah is the co-founder and CEO of New Malaysia Herald based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
With an extensive background in mass communication and journalism, she works on building up New Malaysia Herald and it’s partner sites. A tireless and passionate evangalist, she champions autism studies and support groups.
Datin Hasnah is also the Editor in Chief of New Malaysia Herald.
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