KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 27): The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) is considering contempt proceedings against lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah for saying the High Court’s rejection of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s house arrest could undermine the Malay Rulers’ authority over pardons.
The AGC will examine the matter carefully before deciding if any elements of contempt of court are present, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said in a brief written reply to Parliament on Monday.
Azalina was responding to a question from Ramkarpal Singh (PH-Bukit Gelugor) on whether the AGC would initiate contempt proceedings against Shafee over his remarks regarding Najib’s house arrest ruling.
On Dec 22 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Najib’s bid to serve the remainder of his sentence at home, with judge Alice Loke Yee Ching ruling that a supplementary order by the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong was not valid and cannot be enforced, as the King cannot decide independently of the Pardons Board.
Najib has been serving his commuted six-year jail sentence at Kajang Prison after the Federal Court dismissed his final appeal in the RM42 million SRC International Sdn Bhd case in August 2022.
Following the High Court decision, Shafee described the ruling against Najib’s house arrest bid as potentially undermining the Malay Rulers’ full discretion over pardons and clemency.
This is not the first time Shafee has faced potential contempt proceedings over Najib’s case. On May 30 last year, the AGC said it would initiate contempt proceedings against him for describing court proceedings in the royal addendum matter as a “Nazi-Germany kind of hearing”.
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