Pardons Board documents not confidential, says Najib’s lawyer
Published on: Tuesday, February 20, 2024
By:
FMT, Shahrul Shahabudin
Lawyer Shafee Abdullah showing court reporters the letter carrying the seal of the previous King on Feb 7.
Kuala Lumpur: The documents related to the Federal Territories Pardons Board’s decision to reduce Najib Razak’s prison sentence and fine are not confidential, says Shafee Abdullah, the former prime minister’s lawyer.
He said he only showed court reporters the letter carrying the seal of the previous king on Feb 7 as he did not get Najib’s permission to disclose the contents of the documents at the time.
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“It’s not because it (the document) is confidential,” he said today, explaining that the confidentiality of the documents had nothing to do with his decision.
“They are public documents. I just didn’t get my client’s permission.”
Shafee, who was speaking at a forum titled “Justice and Mercy: A Forum on Reforms to the Pardons Board in Malaysia”, said it was wrong to think that these documents were confidential.
On Feb 2, the Pardons Board halved Najib’s sentence from a 12-year prison term to six years for misappropriating SRC International funds amounting to RM42 million.
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The board also reduced his initial fine of RM210 million to RM50 million.
Shafee also asserted that then Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah had contemplated a full pardon, but later chose a commuted sentence during the meeting he chaired on Jan 29.
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The Pardons Board had recommended that Najib carry out the remainder of his sentence, according to excerpts of the letter that Shafee read out at a press conference earlier.
However, the letter then went on to say that the former king decided to show mercy and reduce the former prime minister’s sentence instead.
In response, Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng had urged the Pardons Board to explain whether Shafee broke the law by divulging to the public the inner workings behind the king’s decision.
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