Najib Razak, who is now doing time in prison for several crimes, has submitted a plea for clemency to the King of Malaysia, according to the Speaker of Parliament, who announced the news on Monday.
Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun stated that the request for clemency was submitted on September 2nd, less than two weeks after Najib began serving a 12-year prison sentence after losing his final appeal on August 23rd in a graft case linked to the looting of the 1MDB state fund. Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun stated that the request for clemency was submitted on September 2nd.
Azhar said Najib’s parliamentary seat would not be resigned until King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah decides on his pardon plea. There is no way to accurately predict how long the procedure will take. Najib, who is 69 years old, will be disqualified from participating in the general elections in September 2023 and would therefore lose his membership in the Malaysian parliament if he is not granted clemency before that date.
The adviser to Najib was quoted by the local media as stating that he was apparently taken to a hospital on Sunday, although it is unknown what the cause of his illness is. It was unable to get in touch with the Prison Department right away for a remark.
The outcome of Najib’s four other criminal cases relating to the 1MDB crisis will not be impacted by his request for a pardon. Rosmah Mansor, his wife, was found guilty of corruption related to a solar energy project and was sentenced to a record 10 years in jail as well as a record 970 million ringgit ($216 million) fine last week.
After the surprising defeat of his United Malays National Organization in the elections of 2018, which was spurred by popular fury over the 1MDB scandal, Najib and Rosmah have been faced with several counts of corruption. These charges include money laundering and other financial crimes. After the reformist government that had been elected in 2018 elections was brought down by defections, UMNO has since been reinstated as the ruling party.
Following his election to government, Najib Razak established the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) development fund. According to the allegations made by the investigators, more than $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and then laundered by Najib’s associates through multiple layers of bank accounts in the United States and other countries in order to finance extravagant purchases such as hotels, a luxury yacht, art works, and jewellery.
