One of Malaysia’s former prime ministers took a potshot at another on Monday, Oct 25. Dr Mahathir Mohamad slammed Datuk Seri Najib Razak as “the first VIP criminal in Malaysia.”
Dr Mahathir said this in the context of Najib being allowed to travel to Singapore despite facing multiple charges involving billions of dollars.
On Monday, Dr Mahathir, 96, who was the county’s fourth prime minister and also its seventh, called Najib’s case “bizarre”, not holding back in comments in a press conference that later aired over social media.
On Oct 18, the Court of Appeal allowed Najib’s application for the temporary return of his passport, so that he could visit his daughter, Ms Nooryana Najwa, who is expected to give birth soon in Singapore. Najib was told he must return his passport before Nov 22.
In 2018, Najib was charged with abuse of power, multiple counts of criminal breach of trust and money laundering, as well as tampering with the audit report of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
Dr Mahathir said, “Najib looks healthy when he goes to the Parliament and campaigning but he becomes sick when he needs to enter the courts.
“And now he can get his passport back. Not only that, after he was allowed to get his passport back, he decided to postpone his (trip to Singapore) to help (his party) with the campaigning (in Melaka).
“Usually, when someone is found guilty and sentenced to prison time, they would have to serve their time but (Najib) gets escorted like a VIP. He is Malaysia’s first criminal VIP.”
On Oct 15, Najib’s wife, Madam Rosmah Mansor, was granted permission by the Kuala Lumpur High Court to fly to Singapore for the same purpose.
Her passport had been seized in 2019 after she was slapped with money laundering and other charges. She faces 17 charges of money laundering involving millions of dollars, as well as bribery and corruption charges.
She must return her passport to the court by Dec 6.
However, on Friday, Oct 22, Najib said he would postpone going to Singapore so that he can assist at the Melaka state elections on Nov 20. /TISG