PETALING JAYA: Utusan Malaysia has issued an apology over an article claiming that former prime minister Najib Razak had been granted a royal pardon.
The Malay language news outlet had quoted sources as saying that the Pardons Board had decided yesterday to pardon Najib.
Utusan’s article was subsequently rewritten by several other news outlets.
“Utusan has retracted the article because the facts cannot be verified.
“Therefore, we apologise to our readers,” it said in a statement.
Earlier, federal territories minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said the Pardons Board will issue a statement following its meeting at Istana Negara yesterday.
Zaliha confirmed attending the board’s meeting but did not disclose if they had discussed Najib’s application.
This came after a report by The Edge that the board’s decision on Najib’s application for a royal pardon would be revealed today.
Najib’s lawyer, Shafee Abdullah, previously said a pardon application was first submitted in September 2022, before addendums to the petition were filed in October that year and in April 2023.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported communications minister Fahmi Fadzil as saying that the media should wait for an official statement from the Pardons Board.
He urged the media not to simply quote sources over the matter.
