PUTRAJAYA: The bid to get a royal pardon for Datuk Seri Najib Razak was not discussed by the Cabinet as it is not the government’s stand, says Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
He said Umno had decided to seek a pardon for its former president and that the issue was a party matter.
“The Cabinet never discussed this (pardon) and Cabinet ministers from Umno had not raised the issue.
“The issue of pardon is not the government’s stand but that of Umno as a political party,” he said when asked yesterday.
Loke said the process of seeking a pardon after a person had been convicted was “normal”.
“For us, we place full confidence on due process and the wisdom of the King,” he added.
On April 7, Umno secretary-general Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said the party’s supreme council had unanimously agreed to seek an audience with the King to present a memorandum urging him to pardon Najib.
Najib, 69, had earlier sought to review a decision by a Federal Court panel led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat on Aug 23 last year, which upheld his conviction and sentence for misappropriating RM42mil in SRC International funds.
On March 31, the Federal Court in a 4-1 split dismissed Najib’s application for leave to review.
