Azalina's letter on Nazlan probe never discussed by cabinet - Loke

A letter sent by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s lawyers affirming MACC findings on judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali has never been discussed by the cabinet.

This was confirmed by Transport Minister Anthony Loke when asked about the matter during a presser this morning.

“No. The matter has never been discussed in the cabinet meeting,” he said.

According to Loke, he is also unsure if the issue would be raised at the next cabinet meeting this Wednesday.

“The next meeting is this Wednesday. I don’t know yet what would be on the agenda.”

Last Thursday, it was reported that Azalina sent a letter to Najib’s lead counsel Mohamed Shafee Abdullah affirming aspects of the MACC probe on Nazlan.

Nazlan is the judge who found the former prime minister guilty of corruption offences related to SRC International and sentenced him to 12 years in jail.

Sources reportedly told Malaysiakini that Shafee wrote to Azalina asking her to confirm whether MACC found Nazlan to be in a conflict of interest when presiding over the SRC International case.

He also wanted to know if MACC found that Nazlan had violated the Judges’ Code of Ethics.

In her reply to Shafee dated March 20, Azalina stated that his “queries are answered in the affirmative”.

Royal pardon

Meanwhile, on a related matter, Loke told reporters that the position taken by Umno to apply for a royal pardon for Najib was also never brought to the cabinet.

He stressed that it was Umno’s decision as a political party to seek pardon for Najib, who is its former president, and the government had nothing to do with it.

“To be fair to the Umno ministers, they have never brought this issue to be discussed in the cabinet.

“So, it was not a position taken by the cabinet. It was the party’s decision,” he said.

Loke said it is the right of any convict to apply for a pardon and the government will leave it to the wisdom of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to make his decision.

“Whether the application would be allowed or not is up to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

“For us (government), we put full confidence in the due process and wisdom of the Agong to make the best decision.”

On Friday, the Umno supreme council unanimously decided to apply for a royal pardon for Najib.

The council also plans to present to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong memoranda signed by all 191 Umno division leaders.

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