KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s acquital over charges of tampering with 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) audit report has rekindled his family’s hope for justice, said his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
Rosmah said the decision meted out by the high court this morning was also a victory for their entire family.
“We hope for better things to come and of course this decision has raised our spirits as a family,” she said briefly to the press following the conclusion of today’s decision.
Dressed in a yellow baju kurung and green shawl, Rosmah along with daughter Nooryana Najwa Najib was seen in the public gallery when the decision was read out by the high court.
Earlier today, justice Mohamed Zaini Mazlan had acquitted Najib, who was previously charged with abusing his position as prime minister and finance minister by ordering amendments in February 2016 to the auditor-general’s audit report on 1MDB before its finalisation and presentation to the Public Accounts Committee to avoid any civil or criminal action against him.
Zaini, who has been elevated to the Court of Appeal recently, ruled that the prosecution failed to present evidence to show that the former prime minister ordered the amendments to the audit report.
Similarly in the same proceedings, former 1MDB chief executive Arul Kanda Kandasamy was also acquitted of his charge of abetting Najib in the report’s tampering.
Najib’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah also hoped that there will be more “good things to come” following today’s decision and stressed that all of the criminal charges against his client are politically charged. – The Vibes, March 3, 2023
