Asian top news of the times - Najib

Mention 1MDB and words like Malaysia, Najib, MO1, Jho Low, money laundering and even USA’s DOJ (Department Of Justice) will come into one’s mind. It is so. because of the consistent frequency of those words being printed and mentioned in local and international media, over the past few years. Other words, too, may appear in one’s mind like Rosmah, hand bags, jewels, watches and so on, but that is for another day! (wink).

To be precise, during these past few years, seven criminal cases were filed against the former Prime Minister, Najib, in regards to 1MDB. On Tuesday, July 28, 2020, the Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge, Mohamad Nazlan found the former and 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato Seri Najib Abdul Razak, guilty on all seven criminal cases, that were brought up against him. Three cases were for criminal breach of trust, three cases were for money laundering and one case was for abuse for power. All the cases were connected to SRC International, a commercial unit of the frequently mentioned investment company, 1MDB, said to be the brainchild of Najib. Mr Najib was sentenced to 12 years jail for abuse of power, and 10 years each for the rest of the 6 cases. 

What? A total of 72 years? Will Najib last that long, you may ask, having pondered in your mind. I, too. Pondered, I mean! I rechecked the news. 

Actually, I was relieved. Najib was sentenced to 12 years in jail with a fine of RM210 million or about 49 million US Dollars. The Judge had ordered the jail term to run concurrently, as the seven cases were interlinked. I did check the word ‘concurrently’ in the dictionary. It said – at the same or simultaneously.

Phew! What an escape for Najib, and what a relief for me. A relief for me, because, I did not like Najib, a former Prime Minister of my lovely nation, Malaysia, to make prison as his first home for an endless 72 years. To me, once a normal person becomes a politician, he, involuntarily, becomes a crook. He pursues and practices various techniques to hold on to power and money. All of them, them politicians, become adapted to it. Sorry, that is how I feel. No, correction. I am not sorry at all I feel that way! It's the way it is.

Coming back to Najib, he is no different from all the others. Najib claims he did not know how that huge sum of money came into his account. RM42 million or 10 million US Dollars, is not a small sum! Maybe, so much money was moving here and there into his accounts, and poor Najib, didn’t know where to check. Ha ha! what a joke! Thank you, Najib, sir.

And a big thank you for starting the BR1M - Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia , a cash payment scheme for the Malaysian people, which is still being followed by subsequent governments. If not for anything else, the people of Malaysia will still remember you for that, the BR1M scheme. And 1Malaysia.

By the way, Najib is not going to jail, straightaway. He is still a free man, pending an appeal to the Court of Appeal. His lead defense lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah has applied for a stay of execution for both the jail term and the fine, and the Judge had granted it. Najib had been slapped with a bail amount of RM2 million or about 500,000 US Dollars in two sureties.

Najib is not completely free, though. He may visit various places of attraction within Malaysia, but of those visits, two visits in a month should be to the nearest police station!