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KUALA LUMPUR: The SRC International Sdn Bhd trial involving Datuk Seri Najib Razak (Photo) has been hailed as the worst case of abuse of office, breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering by the High Court judge who convicted the former prime minister.
Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali said he would not hesitate to characterize the case as one that falls within the range of “the worst kind” of position abuse, CBT and money laundering not only because of how the crimes were committed but also because of the enormous amount of money involved and the element of public impact.
“And perhaps most importantly, it involved the person who at the time of the events was in the highest authority in the government,” he said in his 801-page judgment basis dated August 21, 2020.
The grounds of the sentence, seen by The Star, were part of the appeal file sent to the Court of Appeal.
Judge Nazlan also commented that Najib did not express any remorse for his action and even maintained his defense that he was not aware of SRC’s RM42mil in his mitigation speech.
(In his mitigation speech in which he addressed the judge directly, Najib outlined his achievements during his years as prime minister and cited the Muslim oath to deny any knowledge of where the money came from.)
Judge Nazlan said it cannot be denied that Najib did indeed make contributions to the welfare and betterment of the nation during his ten-year tenure as prime minister.
“Political history will continue to debate whether, in general, it has done more good than bad. But this very process could be contrary to the ideals of a clean administration that does not tolerate corruption and abuse of power,” he said.
The court also found it useless to find out the reasoning behind Najib’s crimes.
“There is little merit in this court to pontificate and lament over why the defendant did what he did, despite (or because of) his undisputed position at the cusp of vast wealth of power and incomparable authority.
“The accused, I repeat, is a person with a sharp intellect and surely must have a strong sense of right and wrong,” he added.
On July 28, Pekan’s deputy was found guilty of one count of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust (CBT) and three counts of money laundering related to RM42mil from SRC International, a unit of 1Malaysia Development Bhd. (1MDB).
Judge Nazlan sentenced Najib to 12 years in prison and a fine of RM210,000, failing five years in prison for the single charge of abuse of power.
Najib was sentenced to 10 years in jail each for the three CBT counts and three counts of money laundering. All jail time was ordered to be executed at the same time.
On July 30, Najib filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence, two days after his conviction.
October 15 has been set for case management on appeal.
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