PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Bar has called for reforms to the Pardons Board following its decision to reduce the jail term and fine of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Malaysian Bar president Karen Cheah said these reforms would provide safeguards against the influence of the Executive and ensure independence in the pardons process.
The government's role in the Pardons Board should be reduced "if not completely eliminated", she said in a statement on Tuesday (Feb 6) night.
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"To this end, an amendment is required to remove the influence of the Attorney General (AG) and the Federal Territories Minister or Chief Ministers of states in the Pardons Board, and to appoint independent persons to the board to ensure inclusivity in terms of expressions from the public," she said.
On Friday (Feb 2), the Pardons Board announced that Najib's jail term would be reduced from 12 years to six and the fine reduced from RM210mil to RM50mil.
Najib, 70, who was serving his sentence at Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted of misappropriating RM42mil in SRC International funds, filed the petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2 that year.
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On July 28, 2020, the High Court sentenced Najib to 12 years' jail and a RM210mil fine after finding him guilty of three counts of criminal breach of trust and one charge of abusing his position.
His appeal against his conviction and sentence was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in 2021 and Aug 23 the following year by the Federal Court, leaving a royal pardon as his last avenue for freedom.
At the moment, she pointed out that Article 42(5) of the Federal Constitution provides that the Pardons Board consists of, among others, the AG (or his/her representative) and the Chief Minister of the relevant state – who in the case of the Federal Territories, is the Minister of Federal Territories.
A further reform to the Pardons Board, she added, would be to introduce safeguards that ensure its power was exercised sparingly, as well as within clear boundaries and established circumstances or categories.
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"Remorse and repentance surely must be a substantial part of such an exercise. To date, after having served one year and five months in prison, Najib has yet to show remorse, any form of repentance, nor apology for committing the offences of criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering, for which he was convicted," added Cheah.
The Malaysian Bar, she said, also unequivocally insists that the deterioration of due process cannot go unchecked and unimpeded.
"It is alarming that this announcement by the Pardons Board comes in relatively close succession with another controversial high-profile case, namely Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s discharge not amounting to an acquittal in the Yayasan Akalbudi case.
"The Malaysian Bar cannot stress enough that a similar discharge must not recur for Najib’s ongoing 1MDB prosecution and two other ongoing cases, failing which it will render the government’s efforts to combat corruption hollow and meaningless, and it will send the message that political power holds the rule of law in shackles," she said.
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