PETALING JAYA, Sept 7 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has many alleged wrongdoings levelled against him and the government will have to decide its priorities in managing them, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.
Dr Mahathir pointed this out when asked to weigh in on a claim that Najib paid RM9.5 million to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy II appeals’ lead prosecutor Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
“There are many charges against Najib Razak, many wrong things that he has done. We have to choose which one you want to manage first,” he told reporters after chairing a Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council meeting.
Indicating that there could be more charges brought against Najib, Dr Mahathir said such processes take time.
“But investigations take a long time, simply because sometimes we don't get the full co-operation of people who know the facts and sometimes it's difficult to get documents to back the allegations made,” he said.
Earlier in the same press conference, Dr Mahathir noted it may be seen as if the PH government is only focusing on the big corruption cases and not taking action on smaller cases involving Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders under the former administration.
“Many that were involved in corruption are composed of leaders from the previous administration, it seems as if no action is taken on them.
“This is seen as due to us focusing on the big cases only, not giving attention to small cases that can clearly get convictions in court,” he said.
“But our decision now is not just to focus on major cases that need clearer evidence, but also smaller cases that involve other leaders in the old administration that are as equally guilty,” he said, having explained however that it takes time to find adequate evidence before suspects can be prosecuted.
“We had to explain that when we try to do something according to the law, the law requires sufficient evidence before we bring the case to court, so this delays it,” he said.
“There were some investigations but not completed, not ready for charging in court,” he said of the status of the smaller corruption cases.
