KUALA LUMPUR: The Umno supreme council will be asking the King to consider granting a royal pardon to former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is currently serving out his 12-year jail term at the Kajang prison.
Umno secretary-general Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said the supreme council had unanimously agreed to seek an audience with the King to present a memorandum urging Najib be pardoned.
“The Umno supreme council unanimously agreed to seek an audience to present an appeal to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, as well as a memorandum signed by 191 divisions as well as the Women, Puteri and Youth wings,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Asyraf said the Umno supreme council was aware that many party grassroot leaders were saddened by the Federal Court’s decision to dismiss Najib’s application for leave to review his conviction and sentence in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
“It is a decision that is seen as unfair and this is in line with the remarks of the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli, who chaired the five-member bench of the Federal Court and said Najib did not get a fair trial and he should be released and acquitted,” he said.
Asyraf said the supreme council also received a memorandum by the 191 divisions and the party’s wings urging the Umno leadership defend Najib, saying he contributed much to the nation.
Najib, 69, had sought to review a decision by a Federal Court panel led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat which upheld his conviction and sentence for misappropriating RM42mil in SRC International funds on Aug 23 last year.
On March 31, the Federal Court delivered a 4-1 majority decision which dismissed Najib’s application for leave to review.
