PUTRAJAYA (Jan 6): Pahang exco member Datuk Nizar Najib has produced a letter purportedly from the Pahang Royal Household, allegedly verifying the existence of a purported Jan 29, 2024, addendum that is claimed to allow former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest.
Nizar, who is Najib’s son and an assemblyman in Pahang, affirmed an affidavit that he allegedly received permission from the Pahang Royal Household comptroller, Datuk Ahmad Khirrizal Ab Rahman, to produce an original copy of the addendum from Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Nizar affirmed an affidavit dated Sunday (Jan 5) on allegedly receiving the letter from Ahmad Khirrizal over the addendum’s existence, where the comptroller allegedly met him privately at the Hyatt Hotel in Kuantan on Saturday (Jan 4) to deliver it.
Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah is applying to adduce Nizar’s affidavit as additional evidence, to support that leave (permission) be given to hear the merits of Najib’s request for judicial review, which had been dismissed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court last year.
Shafee told the court that during a function in Pekan, Pahang in August last year, the Pahang sultan and immediate past-Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah, had informed Nizar about the existence of the addendum that was signed by him on Jan 29, 2024, and also copied to the then-attorney general (AG) Datuk (now Tan Sri) Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh.
Ahmad Terrirudin was appointed a Federal Court judge in November.
The senior lawyer said his client had issued letters to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, and Ahmad Terrirudin, but that there had been no reply.
“Hence, following this new evidence, Najib is seeking to produce a copy of Sultan Abdullah’s own addendum order, so that leave (permission) can be gained in this judicial review,” Shafee said.
“The court has two options, namely to grant leave and revert this case back to the High Court, or hear the merits of this judicial review at this court,” he added.
The case before the Court of Appeal is being presided over by judges Datuk Azizah Nawawi, Datuk Azhahari Kamal Ramli, and Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril.
In reply to Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, who said that the addendum was never discussed during the Pardons Board’s meeting on Jan 29 last year, Shafee said the addendum should be read in accordance with the board’s decision to halve Najib’s jail sentence from 12 years and a RM250 million fine, to only six years and a RM50 million fine.
“The addendum is an extension to the main order, for my client to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest,” Shafee said, adding that the purported main order was the first order issued by Al-Sultan Abdullah, while the addendum was for the then AG — for him to comply with the order.
“The addendum itself, by the [then] Yang di Pertuan Agong, reads in the clearest of terms. It is logical to draw it down to the two documents — the (main order) and the addendum — where it directed the AG to comply with the order issued on the same day,” Shafee said.
Shafee further questioned Ahmad Terrirudin’s silence in not complying with the then Yang di Pertuan Agong’s order.
“The silence (in not complying with the addendum) is damning,” he said, pointing out that they (Najib’s legal team) had requested replies from the various government agencies, but none was forthcoming.
“They are not answering the question. They have a duty to ensure good governance by outlining the truth. What is the effect of the government not complying with this order, and pretending it does not exist? [This] does not augur well for good governance,” Shafee alleged.
He added that they (the government and agencies) must produce the addendum that was given to the then AG, and it is for the AG to answer as to why he has not complied with the Agong’s purported order.
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