Report: Pardons Board yet to discuss Najib’s royal pardon bid

KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — The Pardons Board has yet to discuss imprisoned former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s application for a royal pardon over his conviction and 12-year jail sentence involving SRC International Sdn Bhd’s RM42 million, a report said today.

News portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) cited a source — who spoke anonymously — as denying reports which claimed that the Pardons Board would discuss the pardon bid by Najib today.

As Najib’s SRC offences were allegedly committed in the federal territories, the Pardons Board which will consider his pardons bid will be the pardons board for the federal territories.

Under the Federal Constitution, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong chairs the meetings of the Pardons Board for the federal territories, which comprises the attorney general, the Federal Territories minister, and a maximum of three other members appointed by the Agong.

There are no set timelines for how often the Pardons Board meets or how soon it will consider a pardon bid by prisoners.

Najib is currently still a prisoner, after he failed his latest bid in court on March 31 to challenge his SRC conviction and jail term.

He has been a prisoner for eight months now.

He has been jailed since August 23, 2022, after the Federal Court upheld his conviction for criminal breach of trust, power abuse and money laundering in relation to SRC’s RM42 million.

Najib filed his application for a pardon on September 2, 2022, which was just days after he started serving his 12-year jail term at the Kajang prison.

To know how the royal pardon process works in Malaysia, read here for a summary by Malay Mail.