KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — Lawyer Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah has rejected a news report claiming that his client, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, recently filed a new application for a royal pardon.
The senior counsel, who leads Najib’s legal team, insisted that he would have been among the first to know if such an application had been made, Malaysiakini reported.
“I can confirm that there is no new pardon application filed,” he said.
“I would be the first person, apart from Najib, to have known if there is any.”
Shafee’s denial comes in response to a report earlier today that quoted sources claiming Najib had filed a fresh pardon application during Ramadan.
Najib, 72, is currently serving a prison sentence after being convicted in 2020 on seven charges of power abuse, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering involving RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd.
His initial 12-year prison term and RM210 million fine were previously reduced by the Federal Territories Pardons Board to six years and RM50,000, respectively.
Following that decision, Najib sought to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, filing a judicial review based on a purported “royal addendum order.”
However, the High Court dismissed this application last December, a ruling which Najib is now appealing.
Just days after that dismissal, a separate High Court convicted Najib on all 25 corruption charges in his 1MDB trial. He has also filed an appeal against that verdict.
