Fahmi: Process to declassify Najib pardon minutes ongoing
PUTRAJAYA: The declassification of the Pardons Board minutes regarding former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is in progress, but the issue was not discussed by the Cabinet in its latest meeting, said government spokesperson and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil (pic).
In his post-Cabinet media briefing here yesterday, he said the issue was not raised by any minister during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.
“It was not raised directly. However, I understand that the process is taking into account several legal considerations and that the necessary arrangements are being made to ensure compliance with relevant legal requirements.
“The Cabinet has been advised by the Attorney General on this matter. Nevertheless, the intention is there, and it will proceed through the necessary processes,” said Fahmi.
In January 2024, the Pardons Board reduced Najib’s original 12-year prison sentence to six years, and reduced his fine from RM210mil to RM50mil.
On Sept 18 this year, Najib received a further conditional pardon allowing him to serve the balance of his SRC International sentence under house arrest, subject to conditions including payment of a RM50mil fine, which was eventually paid by Umno.
On Thursday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he would bring up at the Cabinet for the board’s minutes to be declassified, after the proposal was raised by Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
On another matter, Fahmi said the government was assessing the impact of the global Microsoft 365 service disruption on the operations of each ministry and department.
He said the National Cyber Security Agency (Nacsa) was currently compiling a full and detailed report on the disruption.
“As of this morning (yesterday), I was waiting for Nacsa to provide an update on the incident. It is understood to be global in nature, affecting not just one country or region, but having a significant impact.
“So far, we have not been informed which ministries or departments have been affected by their use of Microsoft’s cloud storage and cloud-based applications,” he said.
Nacsa had said the Microsoft 365 service disruption, which had the potential to affect users worldwide, including in Malaysia, was confirmed to have been caused by a technical issue and not a cyberattack.
According to the agency, the disruption affected several key applications, namely Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Defender XDR.
Microsoft said on Thursday that the Microsoft 365 service disruption in several regions was caused by a number of servers suddenly becoming unresponsive, rather than an increase in user traffic.
Separately, Fahmi said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called for drainage maintenance work in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor to be enhanced and carried out more frequently as an immediate measure to mitigate flood risks.
He said the decision was reached during a Special Meeting on Flood Disaster Coordination for Selangor, chaired by the Prime Minister on Thursday to address the issue, including the progress of ongoing flood mitigation projects in both areas.
