Loke says resignation to take effect when Najib starts house arrest
4 hours ago
Anne Muhammad
DAP secretary-general says he met the prime minister yesterday and stated his firm stance about resigning as minister should Najib Razak be allowed out of prison
Transport minister Loke Siew Fook said no one has been lined up as his replacement given that his resignation has yet to take effect.
KUALA LUMPUR: DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook says his resignation as transport minister will only take effect once former prime minister Najib Razak is released from prison to serve the remainder of his jail term under house arrest.
Loke said he met Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim yesterday to discuss the matter, and that he stated his firm stance about resigning should Najib be allowed out of prison.
“He advised me to continue my duties temporarily while he makes a decision (on the resignation), but I said we needed a timeframe. So this is the timeframe: when Najib returns home, then my resignation takes effect.
“If he’s released tomorrow to serve his sentence under house arrest, then my resignation takes effect tomorrow.
“The prime minister acknowledged that the reason for my resignation was Najib’s house arrest. But until today, Najib hasn’t gone home. So he asked me to continue performing my duties temporarily until Najib is released.
“But we don’t know when he will come out of prison. It could very well be tomorrow, we don’t know,” he said at a press conference here.
Loke added that no one has been lined up as his replacement given that his resignation has yet to take effect. He said his would-be successor would be decided by the prime minister at a later date.
DAP’s central executive committee decided that only Loke would resign as minister over the conditional pardon granted to Najib. The party will remain in the government and its other ministers will stay in the Cabinet.
Najib will be allowed to serve the remainder of his jail term in his SRC International case under house arrest if he pays a RM50 million fine.
However, his son, Nizar Najib, said the former prime minister would be unable to settle the fine even if the freeze on his assets was lifted.
Umno launched a fundraiser to help Najib pay off the fine soon after the pardon was announced, and had collected RM9.25 million as of Sunday.
Loke said he met Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim yesterday to discuss the matter, and that he stated his firm stance about resigning should Najib be allowed out of prison.
“He advised me to continue my duties temporarily while he makes a decision (on the resignation), but I said we needed a timeframe. So this is the timeframe: when Najib returns home, then my resignation takes effect.
“If he’s released tomorrow to serve his sentence under house arrest, then my resignation takes effect tomorrow.
“The prime minister acknowledged that the reason for my resignation was Najib’s house arrest. But until today, Najib hasn’t gone home. So he asked me to continue performing my duties temporarily until Najib is released.
“But we don’t know when he will come out of prison. It could very well be tomorrow, we don’t know,” he said at a press conference here.
Loke added that no one has been lined up as his replacement given that his resignation has yet to take effect. He said his would-be successor would be decided by the prime minister at a later date.
DAP’s central executive committee decided that only Loke would resign as minister over the conditional pardon granted to Najib. The party will remain in the government and its other ministers will stay in the Cabinet.
Najib will be allowed to serve the remainder of his jail term in his SRC International case under house arrest if he pays a RM50 million fine.
However, his son, Nizar Najib, said the former prime minister would be unable to settle the fine even if the freeze on his assets was lifted.
Umno launched a fundraiser to help Najib pay off the fine soon after the pardon was announced, and had collected RM9.25 million as of Sunday.
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