Najib says comments made in Court of Appeal judgment 'disappointing'

PETALING JAYA: The comments in the Court of Appeal judgment on the cases against Datuk Seri Najib Razak being a national embarrassment were disappointing for the former prime minister.

"I am very, very disappointed with the statement because throughout my career, I have always been focused on promoting national interests.

"As you know during my tenure as prime minister, for example, the total assets of the country under my watch grew from RM800mil to RM2 trillion.

"I created a lot of wealth for the country just as one example.

"If you talk about national embarrassment, there are other incidents or issues that I would say are scandalous.

"The scandal surrounding the foreign exchange (Forex) issue which led to the loss of about RM31bil.

"If you put it in that context, that is a much more colossal embarrassment," he said.

Responding to a question from the media, Najib said he would just like to put the matter in proper perspective.

Earlier, the Court of Appeal here upheld Najib's conviction and sentence in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case, where the former prime minister was found guilty of misappropriating RM42mil from the company's coffers.

A three-man panel chaired by Justice Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil said that the appellate court had found no errors in the decision by the learned trial judge, Justice Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.

"We dismiss the appeal on all seven charges and affirm the conviction," he said in the unanimous decision here.

The panel said it found no appealable errors that would warrant appellate intervention.