PUTRAJAYA (Jan 6): Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, representing the government and other respondents in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s appeal over a purported addendum, told the Court of Appeal on Monday that the addendum was never discussed or brought up during the Federal Territory Pardons Board’s 61st meeting on Jan 29 last year.
Shamsul — who is appearing for the Home Ministry, the Commissioner of the Prisons Department, the Attorney General, the Federal Territory Pardons Board, the director general of the Legal Affairs Department in the Prime Minister’s Department, and the Law Minister — maintained that the main order issued in February last year, which was to halve the former prime minister’s sentence, is the valid and final order.
“The main order, as announced in February, had agreed to reduce Najib’s jail sentence from 12 years to six years, and the fine of RM250 million to RM50 million,” he said.
“That (main order) is the only one signed and sealed by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, that halved the sentence, [and this order] was directed to the then minister,” he said.
The senior federal counsel said that while the government could not reply to the latest affidavit filed by Najib’s son and Pahang exco member Datuk Nizar Najib, Shamsul said the court should not allow it to be accepted, as there was no due diligence in securing it.
“We say that the application to adduce the fresh evidence ought to be dismissed, as the net effect that Najib is trying to do is an attempt to traverse the main order (which was only to halve the sentence). Furthermore, there is also an issue that the main order is non-justiciable to judicial review,” he added.
Hence, the bid to adduce the additional evidence should not be accepted by the court, including what is claimed to be on the addendum, and including Nizar allegedly getting the go-ahead from the Pahang Royal Household on the purported existence of the addendum.
Following this, Shamsul said the court should also dismiss Najib’s appeal as well as dismiss the request to compel the respondents to produce the purported addendum, as it has not passed the requirements needed.
However, the senior federal counsel’s reply was met with further query by the third judge on the bench, Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril, as he questioned the Attorney General’s Chambers’ (AGC) lack of reply on whether the addendum truly exists or otherwise.
“There is no affidavit in reply on the addendum. There is nothing to say whether the addendum exists. There is no challenge (by the AGC), and I am very disturbed,” the judge said.
Firuz also said that at the last session, Shamsul gave an undertaking in trying to get verification from the Pahang palace over this, but nothing had been done in response.
Shamsul defended that they could not reply on the latest affidavit produced by Nizar on Sunday, but maintained that the latest bid to adduce evidence should be rejected and that the main order issued in February last year should be considered as the binding decision by the Pardons Board.