Kuala Lumpur: Umno secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki has denied that several division leaders have urged the party to pull out of the government.
This comes after FMT reported that a closed-door meeting on Sunday between Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and division leaders saw a call for the party to withdraw its support for the government.
A source told FMT that certain groups were not happy with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as he failed to help secure a pardon for former prime minister Najib Razak over his SRC International conviction.
At a gathering with media practitioners, Asyraf said he did not receive any suggestion from Umno leaders on reviewing the party’s position within the government.
“It’s weird. Why would we want to pull out of the government when the decision on Najib’s pardon was made by the King?” he asked.
However, Asyraf did admit that there was dissatisfaction regarding the decision not to grant the former Umno president a full pardon.
“That’s why we had the meeting with the division leaders. But this will not stop us from trying to secure a pardon for him because we can still make another appeal to the new King.”
Last Friday, the Federal Territories Pardons Board announced it had halved Najib’s sentence in the SRC International case from 12 years to six and reduced his RM210 million fine to RM50 million.
Umno, which said it respected the decision, also said it would continue to “seek justice” for Najib in accordance with the law.
In 2020, Najib was found guilty of seven counts of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust involving RM42 million in funds belonging to SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary.
His conviction and sentence by the High Court were affirmed by the Court of Appeal in 2021. The Federal Court dismissed his final appeal in 2022 and ordered Najib to begin his jail term immediately.
