PUTRAJAYA (Aug 7): The Federal Court has fixed next Wednesday (Aug 13) to deliver its decision on Attorney General Tan Sri Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar’s appeal. The appeal concerns the addendum order allegedly issued by the former King, purportedly allowing former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to serve his sentence under house arrest rather than in prison.
Earlier this year, the Court of Appeal (COA) had ruled that Najib's judicial review application over the alleged addendum should be heard on its merits at the High Court. The AG is appealing that decision.
Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah confirmed the decision date in a text message to The Edge.
"Yes, 13th August," his message read.
Dusuki, when contacted, also confirmed with The Edge the Aug 13 decision by the apex court.
"Yes, we received a notice from the Federal Court this morning, informing the AG's Chambers of the scheduled decision on Wednesday," the AG said.
Najib is currently serving his prison sentence at Kajang Prison following his conviction in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case. He was initially sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million. However, the Pardons Board reduced his sentence to six years and the fine to RM50 million.
Despite this, Najib claims that the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong had issued a royal addendum permitting him to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
On July 2, a three-member Federal Court bench led by Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim deferred its decision on the AG’s appeal. The panel also included Federal Court judges Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Hanipah Farikullah.
At the last session, the AG submitted that Najib or his son Datuk Mohd Nizar Najib (a Pahang exco member) should have produced the alleged royal addendum during High Court proceedings. Dusuki argued that they failed to do so in a timely and diligent manner.
He added that the COA's majority decision took place in January — which allowed Najib’s addendum application to be heard on its merits at the High Court — and the purported document was produced last December.
He claimed that Najib and Nizar should have made more effort to obtain and submit the addendum at the High Court hearing before the court made the decision in July, despite an embargo reportedly imposed by the Pahang Ruler.
“The appellant failed to do so at the High Court,” Dusuki said. Nizar only produced the purported addendum order a day before the appellate court was due to hear Najib’s appeal in December.
In response, Shafee argued that the former AG, now Federal Court judge Tan Sri Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh, had been the intended recipient of the alleged addendum.
“The copy was not given to the Prisons Department, but was addressed to the then AG (Terrirudin). He should have clarified the matter when the application was filed at the High Court, but he did not," Shafee said.
Terrirudin was appointed as a Federal Court judge in November last year.
Currently, the High Court’s hearing on the merits of Najib’s appeal is on hold, pending the Federal Court's decision on the AG’s appeal.
On Jan 6, a three-member COA bench, in a majority ruling, allowed Najib’s judicial review to be heard at the High Court. The judges noted that the AG’s Chambers had not disputed the existence of the purported addendum in their affidavits — implying it may exist.
However, the AG has argued that the manner in which the document was introduced contravenes the COA’s procedural rules. Datuk Azizah Nawawi — now the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak — dissented in the January ruling, stating Najib's appeal should have been dismissed.
Najib originally filed his judicial review application on April 1 last year. However, the High Court dismissed the case at the leave (permission) stage. That decision was overturned by the COA in January, allowing Najib to pursue the matter further.