KUALA LUMPUR (May 27): The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), representing the government and the Federal Territory Pardons Board, is objecting to an affidavit filed by Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, who alleged that Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz had informed him of an addendum to Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s pardon bid.
A leave application to submit a second affidavit, by Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, has also been filed.
The purported addendum allegedly says that Najib is to serve the remainder of his six years’ jail sentence over the SRC International Sdn Bhd case under house arrest.
In a letter to the senior assistant registrar of the High Court, Deputy Head I of the Civil Division at the AGC Shamsul Bolhassan said that the government and the Pardons Board were objecting to the applications by Wan Rosdy and Shafee to seek leave to admit the two affidavits respectively.
In the letter that was sent last week, Shamsul said that any affidavit filed in any application containing the supporting application would have to be made in the early portion of the trial.
Furthermore, he added that the two affidavits affirmed were not replies or answers to any new things that had been stated, as the court had earlier rejected Zafrul’s application to affirm an affidavit in reply to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
“The two affidavits in question were filed very late when taking into consideration that written submissions were filed on April 17, and the court has fixed June 5 to deliver its decision. Furthermore, the two affidavits are seen as an attempt to overtake or bypass the preliminary objection made by the AGC to this application (challenging the existence of the addendum),” Shamsul said in the letter, which was sighted by The Edge.
The AGC, which is representing the government and the Pardons Board, along with other respondents that include the commissioner general of the Prisons Department, the home minister, the minister of law reform and Parliament, the attorney general and one other, had objected to Najib’s leave application on the grounds that any decision by the board is non-justiciable.
“The application by the former prime minister is frivolous and vexatious, and there is no arguable case, as it is speculative in nature,” the AGC in its objection said, adding that the matter was "non-justiciable”.
Proceedings not ended yet, says Shafee
In the additional affidavit dated May 21, Wan Rosdy, who is also an Umno vice-president, seems to verify Zahid’s affidavit over the existence of the addendum. Wan Rosdy alleged that Zafrul had informed him of the addendum in the afternoon of Jan 30 this year.
Meanwhile, Shafee, in his affidavit in support of Wan Rosdy’s affidavit, said that proceedings for Najib’s judicial review application over the pardon had not ended yet, and therefore they are entitled to file an application to reply to the AGC’s objection by putting in this affidavit.
“Furthermore, no decision has been made, and this affidavit would help verify the fact, especially in the critical period of the matter,” Shafee claimed.
Zafrul had wanted to reply to Zahid’s affidavit in support of Najib’s application, as he sought leave from presiding judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh to file his affidavit in what he termed as “factual inaccuracies”.
However, on May 2, Amarjeet rejected Zafrul’s bid to file the affidavit, and maintained the June 5 decision date.
Checks by The Edge now show that Wan Rosdy and Shafee's applications for leave (permission) to put in the affidavits as further evidence are fixed for June 5.
It is not known whether Amarjeet would make a decision on whether to grant leave for Najib's judicial review after that, as scheduled earlier.
On April 1, Najib filed a judicial review application seeking leave for the respondents to produce the purported addendum order, and also for an order that he be placed under house arrest for the remaining duration of his six-year jail sentence.
The former prime minister had originally been sentenced to 12 years’ jail and fined RM210 million after the High Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Federal Court found him guilty of all seven charges of abuse of power, breach of trust, and money laundering in relation to SRC, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Currently, Najib is facing trials in relation to 1MDB-Tanore, the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), and a second SRC case.