As was reported by the Vibes last Tuesday (Nov 7), according to Umno Supreme Council member, Isham Jalil, it looks like the release of Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak from prison remains the main focus of the majority of Umno grassroot members.
Isham has even boldly predicted that there is “trouble” ahead for Umno-unity government relations if there is no justice for Najib!
He further warned that if the government or Umno are not serious in defending Najib’s fate and fail to ensure that he gets proper justice, then the matter could further complicate it's relationship with Umno and may cause the unity government to fail!
Isham revealed that there are still many grassroot members in Umno who are loyal supporters of Najib; in fact, according to him, some former judges and lawyers have also voiced concern that Najib did not receive a fair trial.
Incidentally, a campaign is now underway to gather signatures from students in favour of the petition calling for his release; and furthermore recently more than 2,000 Umno members had gathered outside the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur calling for Najib to be granted a royal pardon.
Meanwhile, in a posting in the ex-PM's Facebook page recently, it would appear that his supporters have briefly laid down six “simple” reasons why he is not the guilty party in the 1MDB scandal and as such should be freed:
- The RM2.6bil funds that he received was returned to the sender 4 months later.
- The RM890mil that he received was actually from Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Finance.
- Najib did not use any of the funds he received to buy jewellery but had instead given it away as charity. The one who jailed him was a junior judge who said that he did not have the right to donate the RM42mil! In fact, even the story of the seized jewellery worth RM1.1bil is fake - it's only worth RM80mil! And they were all gifts that he and his family had received for decades.
- He had never altered the audit report as was charged.
- He is not the guilty party; the one who actually conspired with Jho Low were the 1MDB officers, his own officers, Bank Negara Malaysia governor's family, IPIC's top officials, Goldman Sachs, BSI Bank and Ambank!
- The RM2.6bil that he received was returned, so how can it be treated as an income or expense item and as such how can it become taxable?
For the record, FMT had mentioned that on July 28, 2020, the High Court had convicted Najib on all seven charges of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering in relation to the misappropriation of RM42 million in funds belonging to SRC International, a subsidiary of 1MDB; it had then sentenced him to 12 years’ imprisonment and fined him RM210 million!
In the same article which he wrote, veteran journalist A. Kathirasen had pointed out that Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who headed the bench, described it as a “simple and straightforward case” of abuse of power, CBT and money laundering.
Today, the 1MDB scandal is known the world over as one of the world’s “greatest” ever financial scandals involving large corruption, bribery and money laundering; so much so in 2016, even the United States Department of Justice took pains to describe it as the “largest kleptocracy case to date”. (Read here)
As such, in light of all the damning evidence, perhaps the best way Najib can prove his “innocence” - or at least prove that he was just a small fry (read: accomplice) in the grand scheme of things - is if someone can force fugitive businessman Jho Low to come out from hiding and get him to testify that it was him (and not Najib) who had masterminded and pocketed the billions of ringgit from Malaysia's sovereign fund; leaving the country with a massive mountain of debt, which even the next generation may not be able to pay off!
At any rate, will PM Anwar give in to Najib's supporters in Umno so that his unity government will not be threatened with a pullout? Or will he “play dumb” and ignore the calls - knowing that should Najib somehow, against all odds, become a free man, Umno will most likely transform into a “bigger fish” and eventually swallow up his coalition government anyway?
After all, as an ex-Umno stalwart, he probably knows too well that the party never ever liked playing bridesmaid to anyone for very long!
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