KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 20): Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah claimed that he ascertained that the Pardons Board undertook a voting process to decide on the former prime minister’s pardon petition, based on “hints” in the official document that informed him and his client of the decision.
Shafee said that the hearings of the Pardons Board are guarded behind the Official Secrets Act 1972, but noted that the document announcing the decision to the petitioner, which he presented to the press on Feb 7, are privileged public documents.
“I just showed the first page, the rest I didn’t. I only shared [the cover] with the seal of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The content I never shared because I didn’t get permission from my client. [The documents] are not [an official secret],” Shafee said during a forum on reforms to the Pardons Board on Tuesday.
“It is a public document, it is a decision. It is not accessible, but it ought to be,” he added.
When asked whether he plans to publicise the document, Shafee said he does not have Najib’s permission, but noted that one can piece together “virtually the full picture” of the documents based on pictures snapped by the media, particularly mentioning The Edge.
Subsequently, in response to a question on how Shafee ascertained the ongoings of the board’s hearing, particularly how a voting process took place, the lawyer said the claims were purely based on “hints” he identified in the document.
“It's very easily answered, the issue of whether votes were taken or not, was clearly hinted in the document, I read it as such,” he said.
He did not speak on how he knew of the King’s purported intent to give Najib a full pardon nor how he knew when and how long the board’s discussions took place, as he previously said during the press conference on Feb 7.
At the press conference, Shafee said he got the story on what transpired during the Pardons Board meeting through reliable reports.
Shafee had also previously announced that Najib would be filing a fresh application for a full pardon, unsatisfied with how the Pardons Board conducted itself in making its decision to halve Najib’s jail sentence to six years and reduce his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million.