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This is the thief who the UG wants to free using a “backdoor freedom” called house arrest … in his case, bungalow arrest.
Freeing Malaysia’s No.1 kleptocrat is a web of intrigue
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14, 2024: Finance Twitter has posted a news report detailing how the the so-called Madani Unity Government (UG), led by Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, is caught in a web of intrigue in trying to free the country’s No.1 kleptocrat.
Finance Twitter claimed that there are two parts to the controversy which could destroy Anwar’s desire for a second term – a royal pardon and a royal addendum.
The suspense – and anger – began after a local daily Utusan Malaysia reported – and retracted – that Najib will receive a royal pardon over his 12-year prison sentence after being convicted for the misappropriation of SRC International Sdn Bhd’s RM42 million.
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No News Is Bad News reproduces below the damning Finance Twitter report of the UG’s support to free the corrupt jailbird, the disgraced and shameless former prime minister Najib “1MDB” Razak, who stole millions of Ringgit, if not billions from the rakyat.
And the UG is doing all it can to free Najib who is also currently facing 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering involving RM2.27 billion of 1MDB funds (read as rakyat dan negara’s money).
An international farce for Malaysia’s fight against corruption.
Anwar Has Been Playing “Tai Chi” With Najib Royal Addendum
14 December, 2024
Was there a piece of royal decree that would allow former Prime Minister Najib Razak to serve his remaining prison sentence in his luxury home? A simple answer “Yes” or “No” is all that is needed from the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia – Anwar Ibrahim. But for almost 10 months since January, the man who was supposed to be a reformist, has been playing “Tai Chi”.
There are two parts to the controversy which could destroy Mr Anwar’s desire for a second term – a royal pardon and a royal addendum. The suspense – and anger – began after a local daily Utusan Malaysia reported – and retracted – that Najib will receive a royal pardon over his 12-year prison sentence after being convicted for the misappropriation of SRC International Sdn Bhd’s RM42 million.
Initially, there were denials. Then, when it became too hot to handle, Anwar said on Feb 2, 2024 that the Pardons Board has made its decision and asked the public to wait for the announcement. At that time, Najib had been a prisoner for about one year and five months (he was jailed on August 23, 2022) only, therefore, he was not qualified to apply for a pardon – either full or partially.
Former Attorney-General Tommy Thomas said that one-third of a prison sentence must be served before any pardon can be considered, which means Najib must spend at least four years of his 12-year prison term first. When it was announced that the ex-premier had indeed been given a pardon – 50% discount of his prison time and 75% of his RM210 million fines – all hell broke loose.
Facing a barrage of criticism, the fake reformist Anwar shamelessly defended the move to reduce the jail sentence for disgraced Najib Razak after his attempt to pass the ball to the Pardons Board failed. Initially, the prime minister said the King Sultan Abdullah’s decision to commute Najib’s sentence was final and that the monarch was not obliged to provide an explanation.
When 34 million people refused to buy his bullshit, PM Anwar praised the King’s decision as full of “mercy and compassion”, a pathetic tactic of hiding behind the monarch to silence the critics. That’s because negative remarks about the monarchy can be prosecuted under a colonial-era Sedition Act, which has been used against people who criticise the royals on social media.
Anwar thought he had cleverly put the matter to rest, and people have forgotten the disgusting episode. But it was just the beginning of a nightmare that would haunt his leadership till the next 16th General Election. He thought he was the smartest person alive while everyone else is stupid. However, there was at least one person who was way smarter than him – the crook himself.
Fresh from his royal pardon which halved his jail sentence, Najib suddenly claimed that there was an additional decree – dated January 29, 2024 – from the Agong (King) to transfer him immediately from Kajang Prison to his residence in Kuala Lumpur to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest. But his judicial review regarding the addendum was rejected by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 3.
He is now appealing to the Appeal Court, claiming to have new evidence, which was only recently obtained by Najib’s son, Nizar. The burning question is why hadn’t Najib produced the evidence, or even raised the issue of the existence of such royal decree when he was granted the partial royal pardon in early February, but had to wait till a few months later in April to do it?
Interestingly, Anwar’s biggest bootlicker – Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail – said in November that the so-called royal addendum was merely “hearsay”, essentially denying the existence of the document. However, on Tuesday (December 10), PM Anwar refused to confirm or deny the existence of the highly controversial royal document when grilled by the Opposition in the Parliament.
Lending credence to the suspicion that the addendum indeed exists, the prime minister now said he had referred the matter to the current Malaysian King, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor, for further deliberation. Exactly why Anwar had to make things complicated, confusing and suspicious by passing the ball from one king to another king if there was no such decree in the first place?
Both the High Court (on July 3) and the Home Ministry (on Nov 7) already announced that Najib’s claim was rubbish based on purely hearsay. Is Anwar now afraid of being caught with his pants down lying just in case Najib’s son, Nizar, could produce an identical copy of the addendum from Sultan Abdullah’s royal household, but was not signed by the ruler, unlike the original document?
It becomes more dramatic when the Pahang Palace said on December 10 that it “will not be making any statements” on the issue due to the upcoming court case. But why can’t the previous King – Sultan Abdullah – confirm or deny the existence of the royal decree which he personally rushed to sign at the eleventh hour before his tenure as Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) ended on January 30, 2024?
Yes, Najib could have easily asked the sultan to publicly clarify the matter as early as February, but he didn’t. There was also no reason the previous King would reject such favour as it was the monarch who signed the special royal addendum himself. It does not make sense to hide the document after signing it. Besides, who dares to condemn the Malay Ruler for helping the world’s biggest crook?
After all, Najib holds the “Orang Kaya Indera Shahbandar” title, which he inherited from his late father. The title, which dates back about three centuries in 1722, was accorded to him by the Pahang palace by virtue of the title being hereditary. The title is one of the four highest ranking nobles below the monarch – hence also known as the “Orang Besar Berempat”, loosely translates as “the four chiefs”.
The educated guess is while the royal document does exist (otherwise Anwar can boldly and decisively reject its existence), it may be illegal and unconstitutional, hence unenforceable simply because there are no legal provisions for home detention. That explains why Anwar has hastily accepted Najib’s apology for stealing money, and shamelessly promised to design a special new law to allow home arrest for the crook.
At best, Sultan Abdullah might have been persuaded and scammed by Najib into signing the dubious decree at the last minute before the monarch was replaced by Sultan Ibrahim. At worst, the Pahang Sultan knew it was illegal, but signed it anyway as birds of a feather flock together. Now that it has become a hot potato, the Pahang Palace hides behind judiciary to avoid embarrassment and criticism.
What is unknown is whether the document has been backdated, which explains why it took Najib a few months after a royal pardon to start crowing about a royal addendum. It also explains why Home Minister said the document was merely hearsay. However, there is also the possibility that Anwar government had deliberately hid the document, leading to flip-flopping between him and his own minister.
It would be treason and treachery for Najib’s son for forge a royal document, so both the royal house and Najib dynasty knew the authenticity of the decree. But that does not mean Anwar was innocent. It was part of his plan to pardon Najib when the PM revived Federal Territories Ministry and appointed the useless former Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa to the portfolio, who in turn is a member of the Pardons Board.
Anwar then appointed a new friendly-Attorney General, who is also a member of the board. He also admitted submitting Najib’s application for a royal pardon to the Pardons Board, although thousands of other prisoners were more qualified. Why wasn’t a 43-year-old woman in Terengganu sent to 14 months’ jail in July 2022 after she was found guilty of stealing the Milo at a local supermarket given a royal pardon?
The simple fact that the premier scrambled to assemble his team for the Pardons Board, and blindly submitting Najib’s request for a royal pardon despite the crook having served less than one-third of the jail sentence, already screams double standards and abuse of power just to cling to power by appeasing Najib, whose political party is a partner of Anwar-led Unity Government.
Crucially, Mr Anwar lied that Najib’s royal pardon is under the sole discretion of the King, bragging his strong position on the issue of good governance and the rule of law. But an amendment to the Federal Constitution in 1994 already removed the absolute discretion of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to grant pardons, otherwise why do you need a Pardons Board to begin with?
Article 40(1A) stipulates that all powers of the King (including the power to grant pardons) must be exercised in accordance with the advice of the appropriate person or body of persons and he shall accept such advice. Therefore, the King had actually acted on the advice of the Royal Pardons because he no longer possessed absolute power like before 1994.
Anwar, Najib and the previous King knew that “after” the monarch exercised his power to pardon the crook, which was done under the advisement of Royal Pardons, which in turn was configured by the premier with a specific task to pardon Najib, that decision cannot be challenged in courts. It’s still unclear whether Najib had been given a full pardon, before quietly making a U-turn and changed it to 50% after public uproar.
Did you notice all along, it has been Anwar who vigorously defended Najib’s royal pardon as if he was his attorney, failing which he would twist, spin and “tai chi” to the monarch? The silence of the Sultanate of Pahang suggests that either it was following the Pardons Board’s recommendation, or had arm-twisted the board to pardon Najib, knowing very well it was illegal and unconstitutional.
Now that the ball has been passed to the new King, exactly what could Sultan Ibrahim do? If he accounces the existence of the document, pro-monarch Anwar is toast and the monarch might do the anti-monarch opposition Perikatan Nasional a favour. Worse, the Johor Sultan could plunge into a self-inflicted anti-monarch sentiment for freeing Najib, whose 1MDB scandal is still hot and burning.
But if the decision, after a meeting on Dec 9 (Monday) between Anwar and Sultan Ibrahim, is to use the new King to announce the existence of the royal addendum with the intention of silencing critics and suppressing discontent, it could backfire on both the PM and the King. If it exists, why has it been hidden since January and not executed, which had misled the High Court into believing it was purely hearsay?
On the other hand, if Sultan Ibrahim denies the existence of the document, he has to ensure the original decree will never see the light of day, which means it must be destroyed. But this also means the duplicate copy held by Najib’s son is fake and he could be prosecuted for treason, which could see a retaliation from Najib. Can you see how Anwar is tangled in his own web of lies after making a deal with the devil for power?
So, the workaround could see a cover-up of the royal decree, which was both illegal and unconstitutional anyway. The Sultan of Johor, considered the de-facto leader of the nine Malay Rulers in the country, could advise his junior brother – Sultan Abdullah – to throw Najib under the bus. In exchange, Anwar will bulldoze a house arrest law to free Najib under “bungalow detention”, and everyone goes home happily with their prizes.
Source : Finance Twitter
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