Former law minister Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim has urged the prime minister to free Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is serving a 12-year jail sentence for misappropriating RM42 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds.
He said under the scheme of things the RM42 million Najib had been jailed for was just “small change”, and nobody would fault Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim if Najib is pardoned.
In his latest Twitter post, Zaid said Anwar need not worry about forgiving Najib as the latter was needed to help Umno win the coming state elections.
His twitter post read: Dear PM, you have to change your mind about Najib – for the sake of the people.
“Let him free. This coming election; Madani needs to win; you need to be PM for a few more years.
“Umno is weak; only Najib will help you win. Sure, he was found guilty; but in the scheme of things 42 mil is a small change. After all, from now on corruption is a thing of the past; under your strict and clean leadership no one can say you are soft on corruption by pardoning him.”
The post had garnered over 92,000 views with mixed responses, including some who questioned Zaid’s logic in making his arguments.
Among the more interesting comments included one from Amer Al-Jeffrey who posted in Malay saying “Isap apa ni woi” (what are you smoking) and another from Artemis.P who wrote: “orang curi tin sardin pun kena jail (even those who steal sardine cans are jailed.
Najib, 70, was jailed 12-years and fined RM210 million after he was found guilty by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 28, 2020, of three counts of criminal breach of trust and three counts of money laundering of RM42 million of SRC funds.
He was also convicted of abusing his power with regards to the RM4 billion Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) loan which the Cabinet approved via a government guarantee in two meetings that he chaired in August 2011 and March 2012.
A three-member Court of Appeal had upheld the conviction and sentence on Dec 8, 2021, and this was further confirmed by a five-member bench led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat on Aug 23. – NST