Anwar’s claims on his refusal to meddle with court cases cost support for PM bid untrue - Najib

SHAH ALAM - Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak debunked claims made by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, which said that the latter’s refusal to meddle with his court cases had caused Najib not to sign the statutory declarations.

Najib, in a Facebook post, said that he had never asked anyone to drop his criminal cases through his influence.

"I have never asked anyone to drop my case through political influence. I am a party member and will always side with the party's decisions.

"However, if what Anwar said was true that he had the support of 120 MPs, why didn't the National Palace elect him as the Prime Minister?

“Why would he resort to proving his support through votes in Parliament including by ruining the 2021’s budget vote?" he wrote.

Yesterday, Anwar had claimed that he had the sworn support of 120 federal lawmakers to be the prime minister in 2020 until he rejected Najib’s request for him to interfere in the latter’s criminal cases.

He was allegedly asked to use his eventual authority as the prime minister to ensure Najib’s cases did not proceed, but he was unwilling to do so as he did not want to compromise the independence of the judiciary.

Anwar said Najib and Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi were among those who had backed Anwar’s unsuccessful bid to replace Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the prime minister at the time.

In September 2020, Anwar announced he secured the support from MPs to form a new government after Perikatan Nasional (PN) came to power

As PN rose to power in 2020 due to the collapse of the PH government when Bersatu pulled out of the coalition, six months later, Anwar announced himself securing a "strong, formidable and convincing" support from MPs to form a new government.

Earlier this week, Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman validated Anwar’s claim in a tell-all press conference held in retaliation of his removal from the Umno Supreme Council.