KUALA LUMPUR (June 5): The High Court (Appellate and Special Powers Division) on Wednesday rescheduled its decision on Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s pardon bid to be placed under house arrest for his six-year jail conviction, after allowing the admission of two affidavits, one by the Pahang menteri besar, and the other by Najib.
Judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh Serjit Singh set July 3 as the new date after hearing additional submissions from Najib’s counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah. Senior federal counsels Shamsul Bolhassan and Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi, who appeared for the respondents including the government, objected to the admission of the affidavits.
The government’s grounds for objecting to the affidavits were that submissions had been heard previously, and Amarjeet had set Wednesday for a decision on whether to grant leave (permission) for a judicial review.
Despite this, Amarjeet allowed the two affidavits to be admitted for consideration by the court in order to grant leave to hear the merits of Najib’s application.
In judicial review applications, leave or permission has to be gained by the court first before the merits or substantive of an application can be heard.
This is to ensure that the application is not frivolous or vexatious, or an abuse of the court process.
The former prime minister filed the judicial review application on April 1, for him to be served a copy of the addendum to the pardon order, which would purportedly allow him to serve the rest of his six years’ jail sentence under house arrest at home here.
Najib had originally been sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment and a fine of RM210 million, after being found guilty on seven charges in relation to abuse of power, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering of SRC International Sdn Bhd funds.
SRC is a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
The Federal Territory Pardons Board later granted Najib a pardon and reduced his jail term to six years, and the fine to RM50 million.
Wan Rosdy claims Zafrul informed him of addendum order
Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail had affirmed an affidavit in support of Najib’s application, claiming last month that Investment, Trade, and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz had informed him of an addendum to Najib’s pardon bid.
The purported addendum allegedly says that Najib is to serve the remainder of his six years’ jail sentence over the SRC case under house arrest.
Prior to this, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had also affirmed an affidavit in support of Najib, claiming that Zafrul had shown him a copy of the addendum order, which was on Zafrul’s handphone, and claiming the existence of such a document.
Zahid also said he did not have a copy of the addendum order, which purportedly allows the former prime minister to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. Even so, Zahid claims it exists.
Prior to this, Zafrul had wanted to affirm an affidavit in reply to certain items in Zahid’s affidavit, which Zafrul described as containing “factual inaccuracies”. However, Amarjeet rejected the minister’s application.
Najib last month also affirmed in an affidavit, which was allowed by Amarjeet, that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s speech during the PKR special convention on April 21 seemed to suggest the existence of the addendum order, and hence argued that it should be produced.
“I have received the main order [of the pardon], but there is no response from the respondents over the addendum order,” Najib said.
“I contend that as the addendum order is now clearly proven to exist, the pardons authority and the other respondents have a duty in law likewise to transmit the addendum order to the commissioner general of the Prisons Department in order for them to serve to me. The refusal by all the respondents to enforce the addendum order is a separate issue, which the respondents should refer to the court for its final decision.
“The respondents cannot on their own decide to ignore the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s addendum order. The clumsy attempt to conceal this addendum order is disingenuous,” Najib said.
Besides the Prisons Department commissioner general, others named as respondents included the home minister, the attorney general, the Federal Territories Pardons Board, the minister of institutional reform and law, the director general of legal affairs in the Prime Minister’s Department, and the Malaysian government.