Najib Has Option To Seek Pardon Or Appeal 1mdb Conviction Say Lawyers

---

However, they say the former prime minister will need to waive his right to appeal in order to apply for a pardon.
On Friday, the Putrajaya High Court sentenced Najib Razak to 15 years in prison and fined him RM11.4 billion in his 1MDB corruption case. (Bernama pic)PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Najib Razak, who has been found guilty for the second time for corruption, has the option to file for a pardon or appeal his conviction in the 1MDB case, lawyers said
They said Najib, 72, could apply for full clemency, but an appeal to set aside the conviction and sentence in the 1MDB case would take another two to three years if the matter went up to the Federal Court.
However, to apply for a pardon, Najib would have to waive his right to appeal, the lawyers said.
Najib’s lawyer, Shafee Abdullah, had indicated to 1MDB trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah that his client intends to appeal the conviction and sentence.
Najib has 14 days to file a notice of appeal.
Sequerah found Najib guilty of four charges of abuse of power and 21 charges for money laundering over funds totalling RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.
He sentenced Najib to 15 years’ jail, and imposed a fine of about RM11.4 billion.
Sequerah ordered the 1MDB prison term to begin only after the end of Najib’s six-year jail term in the RM42 million SRC International case on Aug 23, 2028.
Lawyer Abdul Rashid Ismail said the Prisons Act and regulations did not impose a time limit to bar an applicant from filing for royal clemency.
“The law only states that a petition could be made ‘as soon as practicable’,” he said.
Lawyer Kitson Foong said Najib would not be able to make an application to the Federal Territories Pardons Board if he chooses to exhaust the appeal process.
“One cannot file an application for pardon and at the same time file an appeal. A convict’s petition for mercy only begins after his legal right ends,” he added.
On Dec 22, the Kuala Lumpur High Court refused to issue a mandamus order to compel the government to move Najib from Kajang prison and allow him to serve the remainder of his jail term for the SRC International case at home.
Lawyer A Srimurugan said Najib could also file a second pardon application for the SRC International case as the law did not prevent an applicant to do so.
“It also depends on the written opinion on a pardon given by the attorney-general, as provided for under Article 42(9) of the Federal Constitution, when the king presides over a pardon board’s meeting,” he said.
Srimurugan cited the case of former minister Mokhtar Hashim, who was convicted for the 1982 murder of then Gemencheh assemblyman Taha Talib. Mokhtar’s death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment by the Negeri Sembilan Pardons Board.
The lawyer added that Mokhtar subsequently applied for clemency, which resulted in his sentence being further reduced to a fixed prison term, ultimately leading to his release in 1991. - FMT

---