Lawyer: Najib posts additional RM1m bail today for SRC case

KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 ― Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has paid the additional RM1 million bail that he was required to post today in his case involving RM42 million of former 1MDB unit SRC International Sdn Bhd’s funds, his lawyer confirmed.

When contacted, Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee confirmed to Malay Mail that all the bail procedures for Najib for the additional RM1 million bail had been settled at around 1.30pm today.

While two of Najib’s sons ― including Ashman ― were believed to have been sighted at the court complex, Farhan confirmed that the two sureties for the RM1 million bail posted by Najib are not his children.

Earlier today, Najib was seen leaving the Kuala Lumpur court complex with his aides and several other individuals at around 1.30pm, but he did not reply to the question of if he had posted bail when asked by the media.

Yesterday, the High Court found Najib to be guilty of all seven charges of committing power abuse, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering in the SRC International trial.

The High Court also sentenced Najib to a 12-year jail term and a fine of RM210 million with an additional five years if the fine is not paid for the power abuse charge, while sentencing Najib to jail terms of 10 years for each of the six other charges.

But as the High Court had said that the jail terms are to be served concurrently or at the same time, the sentencing does not mean that Najib will have to serve a 72-year jail term, as he would have to serve a maximum of 12 years instead.

Najib’s lawyers are however pursuing an appeal against the High Court’s decision.

The High Court yesterday granted Najib a stay of execution of his sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment and RM210 million fine while he pursues his appeal, which means that he will not have to be in the lockup while waiting for the outcome of his appeal.

The stay of execution of the imprisonment and payment of the RM210 million fine however came with the conditions of an increased bail by another RM1 million with two sureties to be paid by today, and for Najib to report to the nearest police station on the 1st and 15th of every month.

This is not the first time that Najib has posted bail in the SRC case, as he had previously posted a RM1 million bail when he was first charged in July 2018 with four of the seven charges in this case, while the RM1 million bail was extended without additional bail required to be paid when he was charged with the remaining three charges in August 2018 in this trial.

With the posting of bail of RM1 million today, Najib has put up a total of RM2 million in the SRC International trial.

This is on top of his previous posting of a total of RM5 million bail when he was charged in other criminal cases, namely a RM3.5 million bail posted in September 2018 in the main 1MDB trial, and another RM1 million bail for another case.

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