PUTRAJAYA: Even in jail, Datuk Seri Najib Razak was thinking about Malaysia’s economic development, his lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said in mitigation, requesting a more lenient sentence.
Despite being incarcerated in Kajang Prison, the former prime minister remains focused on national economic development, Shafee told the High Court today.
Shafee made the submission during mitigation for a more lenient sentence, following Najib’s conviction on all charges of misappropriating RM2.3 billion in 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds.
The senior lawyer said Najib is currently pursuing a PhD in economics, focusing on the national economic transformation.
Shafee also stressed that if senior 1MDB management had done their jobs properly, the scandal would not have occurred.
He noted that key figures including former 1MDB chief executive Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and the company’s former general counsel Jasmine Loo have yet to face full accountability.
He also questioned the efforts to bring back fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, whom he described as the main orchestrator of one of the world’s biggest financial scandals.
“Najib never took the money for his own benefit.
“The funds that he thought were from the Saudi monarch were used for welfare, political, election, and CSR purposes,” he said.
The lawyer further highlighted Najib’s health concerns, saying his client faces immediate risks of stroke and heart attack.
He suffers from persistent ulcers, severe hypertension, acute knee problems requiring intervention, and recently underwent eye surgery.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
