PETALING JAYA: The prisons department has rubbished rumours that former prime minister Najib Razak will receive special treatment at Kajang Prison.
In a Facebook post today, the department said: “Stop the spread of fake information.” Accompanying the post was a picture of a clean, spacious, nicely equipped room with IKEA-like shelves and a table.
Social media has been flooded with comments about Najib’s potential VIP treatment in jail since the Federal Court upheld his conviction and sentence in the SRC International case.
He was taken to Kajang Prison late yesterday evening following the decision of the apex court.
The department told FMT there will be no such special treatment accorded to Najib, stressing that all prisoners will be treated the same.
FMT has also reached out to the home ministry for comments.
Allegations on preferential treatment for “well-connected” prisoners are not new as there had been reports of such treatment being given to some inmates.
On Aug 11, 1989, Malay Mail carried a report of corporate figure Abdullah Ang who, while being held in Kajang Prison, was allowed to commute regularly between jail and the city.
Ang was said to have been sighted at his family’s factory at Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, without guards two days before he was supposed to be released.
The report said stall owners operating near the factory would see him having lunch and tea, often accompanied by “tycoon-type men” in luxury cars. Ang also occasionally packed food to be taken back to the Kajang Prison, it said.
His presence would be the talk of office workers and labourers, who wondered how he managed to get out of prison regularly.
He was supposed to be working at an orchid farm in Mantin, Negeri Sembilan, set up by the prisons department.
Ang, a former managing director of the now-defunct Malaysian Overseas Investment Corp, had been sentenced to eight years’ jail by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Dec 15, 1986 after he pleaded guilty to criminal breach of trust.
The controversy surrounding the “privileged prisoner” led to a restructuring of the prisons department to resemble that of the police department.
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