KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 ― Datuk Seri Najib Razak may keep his post as the Pekan Umno division chief despite being convicted in his trial over RM42 million of former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd, party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.
Zahid pointed out that the law allows Najib to keep the position while pursuing an appeal against his conviction.
"The due process of law is taking place where the Court of Appeal will be sitting, then the due process must be followed. And his position as I informed and confirmed yesterday, as member of Parliament is still there and he is also head of Umno division Pekan, those two positions stay because the law is allowing these two positions to be retained by him,” he said in a press conference immediately after attending his trial at the Kuala Lumpur court complex.
"Datuk Seri Najib still retains his position as Pekan Member of Parliament and still remains as head of Umno's Pekan division," he added.
Apart from his post as Pekan Umno chief, Najib is also the chairman of Barisan Nasional's advisory board, but Zahid did not comment when asked if Najib also retained this post.
On Tuesday, the High Court found Najib 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 said that the prison 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 appealing the High Court’s decision.
The High Court also 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 a 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 yesterday, and for Najib to report to the nearest police station on the 1st and 15th of every month.
Yesterday, a lawyer for Najib confirmed that he has paid the additional RM1 million bail required for the stay of the SRC decision. This is on top of the previous RM1 million bail that Najib had posted when he was charged in the SRC case.
