December 08, 2021, 05:21 PM
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Former Malaysia prime minister Najib Razak is "very disappointed" by the Court of Appeal's decision to uphold his guilty verdict in a corruption trial.
Earlier on Dec. 8, the Court of Appeal announced it has dismissed the application by Najib to overturn the verdict, and affirmed the conviction.
Najib denies personally instructing anyone to transfer the funds
Speaking after the court's announcement in a teleconference, Najib also denied any personal responsibility in the transfer of RM42 million (S$13.6 million) from a subsidiary of 1MDB to his personal account.
His explanation that the money was a contribution from a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family was not accepted by the Court of Appeal.
The court noted that such a contribution would not have needed to be deposited in the subsidiary's coffers first before being transferred to Najib's account.
Fridaus Azil, journalist for Malaysian news channel Astro Awani noted that Najib said:
"As a Muslim, let me say this in the name of Allah, Wallahi Wabillahi Watallahi (an oath used by Muslims to swear on the truth of their word):
"I did not know, I did not ask, and I have never instructed anyone to transfer RM42 million to my personal account."
"Sebagai seorang berugama Islam, saya nak nyatakan atas nama Allah - Wallahi, Wabillahi, Watallahi –
— Firdaus Azil (@FirdausAzil) December 8, 2021
"Saya tidak tahu, dan saya tidak minta, dan tidak pernah arahkan sesiapa untuk pindahkan RM42 juta ke akaun peribadi saya" - DS Najib Tun Razak.
Also during the press conference, Najib said he is focused on promoting the national interest throughout his career.
Speaking in English, he noted that Malaysia's assets grew from RM800 million (S$259 million) to RM2 trillion (S$646 billion) under his watch as prime minister.
"Therefore, I created a lot of wealth for the country. That's just one example," he said.
He also neither confirmed nor denied whether he would be standing in the next general election.
Najib is currently the Member of Parliament for Pekan, Pahang.
On whether he will run for the next general election:
— TheVibes.com (@thevibesnews) December 8, 2021
"We will cross that bridge when we come to it. We don't know when it is and there are political considerations to be made. I will leave it until the time comes." - @NajibRazak
Najib's lawyer, Shafee Abdullah, confirmed that he would be pushing for an appeal in the Federal Court, which is Malaysia's highest appellate court.
You can see the video below, which starts with the press conference already underway:
Top image from Najib Razak's Facebook page.Follow and listen to our podcast here
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