Fund to help Najib with bail hits RM11,000

KUALA LUMPUR: The “Free Najib” fund, set up by Umno and supporters of the embattled former prime minister to help settle bail in his corruption trial, hit RM11,000 on the first day.

Solidarity With Najib Razak spokesman Datuk Mohd Razlan Muhammad Rafii said the fundraiser was to help the former Umno president settle the second RM500,000 bail instalment set by the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

“It is difficult for him to pay the RM1mil bail this coming Monday because as we all know, his and his family’s bank accounts have all been frozen and all the money in his house has been seized – right down to the 10 and five sen coins.

“We’ll leave the fund open until noon on Monday and at 1pm, we’ll go in a group to deliver the amount we’ve collected to the court and pay the remaining bail instalment,” said Razlan, who is also Seputeh Umno vice-chairman.

On Wednesday, Najib was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of abuse of power involving RM42bil linked to SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) subsidiary.

Earlier, Razlan and other supporters met Najib at his Langgak Duta residence.

They said the former prime minister told them that he was the victim of “political revenge” by the Pakatan Harapan government.

Najib, said Razlan, also advised them to set up a welfare fund to aid ordinary Malaysians and Umno leaders caught up in the government’s “revenge politics”.

“From what I see, it’s political revenge because it was in their manifesto and they have also aired their views that Najib is guilty; in their view (but) not the court’s on the 1MDB issue,” said Razlan.

He also claimed that Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had stated that the charge sheet against Najib was ready but from what they saw on Tuesday, this was unrelated to 1MDB.

Razlan also alleged that the situation was similar to 1998 when PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was sacked and charged with corruption, and urged the government not to “repeat the extreme cruelty and dictatorship” then.