Malaysians Have Been Betrayed

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Millions of voters who voted for Pakatan Harapan in May 2018 and November 2022 because of its principled determination to bring Najib Abdul Razak to justice for his role in orchestrating the world’s most egregious case of kleptocracy have been betrayed.
The delayed announcement on Feb 2 by the Pardons Board that Najib’s sentence of 12 years has been halved shocks the conscience of millions, not just in Malaysia, but across the globe.
It is because of the international notoriety of the 1MDB scandal, recently highlighted by the “Man on the Run” documentary on Netflix.
The decision to grant Najib, who has arguably done more harm to this country and its people than any other person in modern history, such unwarranted clemency has shattered our moral compass. Our country has lost its soul.
I declare my interest. My father, Tommy Thomas, was the public prosecutor who charged Najib in July 2018 in the first of the 1MDB-related scandals. That case concerned the theft of RM42 million belonging to SRC.
He charged Najib subsequently in four separate cases, principally involving monies stolen from 1MDB.
The SRC trial began in the High Court in March 2019. In August 2020, Najib was found guilty of all seven charges, viz corruption, criminal breach of trust and money laundering.
The trial judge sentenced him to 72 years in jail for the seven charges. As they were concurrent, he was required by law to serve 12 years. A fine of RM210 million (representing five times the sum of RM42 million) was also imposed.
Najib’s appeals to the Court of Appeal and Federal Court were unsuccessful. He started his sentence in August 2022. His review application before another panel of the Federal Court was also rejected.
Hence, 14 of 15 judges of our superior courts at four different levels found him guilty.
No remorse
The decision of the Pardons Board is unprecedented in many ways. It flies in the face of established conventions relating to pardon applications, firstly that the prisoner must have served one-third of their jail sentence and secondly that they must not have any other criminal cases pending, to be granted clemency.
Najib has only served 17 months of a 144-month sentence. He has three other pending criminal cases - one of which involves his receipt of some US$600 million (RM2.85 billion) in his personal bank account.
The trial of that case, known as the Tanore case, has spanned three years, with scores of prosecution witnesses testifying about Najib’s involvement in 1MDB affairs.
Thirdly, and most importantly, Najib has never shown an ounce of remorse. On the contrary, he and his legal team have steadfastly and vigorously denied any guilt and sought to attack the individuals and institutions who brought him to justice, including trial judge Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and my father.
The purpose of a pardon application is to demonstrate that the relevant prisoner is deserving of clemency because they accept their wrongdoing, have learnt their lessons and turned over a new leaf.
None of these essential pre-conditions to a proper pardon application exists in Najib’s case. For this reason alone, the board ought to have rejected his application. It is inherently flawed and never passed muster.
Wasted efforts
The ramifications of the board’s decision are grave and immense. Firstly, there’s the stinging sense of injustice and betrayal the nation feels. We put our trust in the Harapan government, we marched on the streets for change and it has all been for nought.
Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd GhazaliWe have had many occasions to question the foundational legal and moral principle that every man is equal under the law, but none as damning as this.
It is painfully unfair that in this country, impoverished petty thieves who steal a pittance get harsher jail sentences than greedy, powerful politicians who steal billions. It is deeply shameful.
The injustice is inflamed by the massive debt incurred as a result of the guarantees signed on behalf of the government under Najib’s watch.
While Najib’s fine is slashed by 76 percent, taxpayers are saddled with debt payments of over RM50 billion because of these profligate frauds.
Every single Malaysian is paying the price for Najib’s kleptocracy. Najib has never expressed public remorse in imposing these debts on us, debts which will take decades to repay.
Secondly, there’s the message this sends to every politician in the country: you can steal billions and plunder our country while millions of ordinary Malaysians pay the price, show absolutely no remorse and walk away with a slap on the wrist.
Malaysia is open for business if your business is corruption. Steal away.
Thirdly, there’s the wasted effort and undermining of our legal system. Investigating and prosecuting white-collar crimes involving the corruption of public officers is a difficult and skilled task.
It requires thousands of documents (most of which have to be original, with the makers appearing and producing them at trial), witness statements, witnesses testifying and finally experienced and able prosecutors appearing as counsel.
The prosecution has to ensure that the defence is called, and then the accused is convicted on a beyond reasonable doubt standard. When the trial begins, much time is required, as best demonstrated in the pace of the ongoing Tanore trial.
Judicial time is precious because of the unremitting pressure of cases waiting to be tried. The length of the 1MDB trials has had an effect on other accused, whose trial dates have been vacated or postponed.
Morale goes down
Hence, the morale of all those involved in the 1MDB cases, apart from the accused, suffers by this pardon. First, the investigators from MACC, police and other agencies who have worked tirelessly to prepare the case, secure documents, interview potential witnesses and prepare them for trial.
Next, the prosecutors. At its inception and its height during the trial phase, at least a dozen deputy public prosecutors worked on the SRC matter.
In addition, the late Gopal Sri Ram, the late Sulaiman Abdullah and V Sithambaram ̶ leading lights in the Malaysian Bar - were appointed to lend their experience and expertise.
Then the 14 judges. The trial took 86 days, with 57 witnesses testifying for the prosecution and 18 for the defence. Justice Nazlan’s judgment occupies 747 pages in the law report, easily the longest in our history.
It is a “tour de force” judgment, a tremendous credit to our judiciary. All this perspiration, persistence, intelligence and eloquence wasted.
Fourthly, Malaysia’s relations with friendly foreign nations with whom we have signed mutual legal assistance will be prejudiced.
The leg work done by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the 1MDB scandal, which then US Attorney-General Loretta Lynch declared in 2016 as the greatest kleptocracy that they had ever investigated, was generously shared with Malaysia.
That facilitated our prosecutors in 2018 and 2019. Likewise, help from other jurisdictions. Would they be so willing to share in the future if the ultimate result of their incredible industry is an unjustly commuted sentence?
Deafening silence
At political talks in the run-up to the 14th general election, DAP, PKR and Amanah speakers campaigned strongly on the 1MDB scandal, and the crowds roared every time Najib was called “pencuri” (thief).
These speakers, along with Dr Mahathir Mohamad, were exceptional at highlighting the scandal and simplifying it for common understanding. They were interviewed in the recent Netflix documentary, “Man on the Run”. So was Anwar Ibrahim.
They are now deafeningly silent. Yet these are the leaders of the parties in the Harapan-led government (except for Mahathir), whose senior representatives sit on the Pardons Board and advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. A convention exists whereby the Agong, as a constitutional monarch, accepts the advice of the Pardons Board.
The prime minister cannot escape responsibility by saying that it was the attorney-general (AG) or the Federal Territories minister who attended the Pardons Board meeting. Would anyone believe that for such an important matter, the AG and FT minister did not consult the prime minister?
Harapan leaders, especially the prime minister, owe a duty to their voters to explain why they support the pardon of this unrepentant kleptocrat, the man most responsible for the creation of the 1MDB scandal when he was prime minister, finance minister and adviser to 1MDB.
We are waiting. - Mkini
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor, Hannah Thomas and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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