Calling Najib ‘VIP criminal’, Dr M questions case delay, passport returns for Umno leaders

Dr Mahathir Mohamad today questioned a series of court decisions allowing senior Umno leaders and those connected with them to travel abroad.

The former prime minister also questioned the long delay in concluding the appeal process of Najib Razak pertaining to his conviction and 12-year jail sentence over the SRC International case.

“Justice delayed is justice denied. But this appeal was supposed to be heard in April, six months ago. It is now October.

“But everyone else can attend court, be tried and convicted, and even sent to jail. This person has been convicted, but has not been sent to jail, in fact he is escorted around like a VIP.

“The first VIP criminal in Malaysia,” Mahathir said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

His comments came as the Kuala Lumpur High Court this month allowed Najib to travel to Singapore to visit his daughter, one of a series of decisions which saw several VIPs accused of corruption being given temporary access to their passports.

Others whose passports have been temporarily released include Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Najib, who is appealing to quash a conviction for seven high-profile charges related to RM42 million from 1MDB-linked SRC International, later applied to amend the date of his trip in order to focus on Umno’s campaign in the upcoming Melaka state election.