PUTRAJAYA (March 13): Datuk Seri Najib Razak will push on with his bid to cite former attorney general Tan Sri Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh for contempt.
Speaking to the press on Friday, Najib's counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah said his client has spent much time and money on the matter which centres around Terrirudin's alleged knowledge and non-disclosure of the royal addendum which purportedly would allow the former prime minister to serve out his jail term under house arrest.
"The case will go on, for sure. My client says there is no withdrawal on this contempt case because of how much money he has spent, how much time wasted [...] because it could have been avoided," Shafee said.
The matter was to be heard on Friday. However, it has now been put on hold until the end of the month for parties to decide on which appeal will be heard first.
At the onset, the appellate panel, led by Court of Appeal judge Datuk Lim Chong Fong, asked if parties want to wait until the main appeal on the royal addendum is heard before proceeding with this contempt appeal, given that the majority of the evidence in both appeals will overlap.
What are the two appeals?
Friday's appeal concerns Najib's bid to start contempt proceedings against Terrirudin, who is now a sitting apex court judge. Najib claims that Terrirudin knew of the existence of the addendum order but directed his officers to mislead the court by arguing otherwise.
In September last year, the High Court had dismissed Najib's contempt bid, as it was "speculative" in nature.
The second appeal is Najib's bid to enforce the addendum order to serve his reduced jail term under house arrest.
In 2024, the Federal Territories Pardons Board had slashed the ex-PM's sentence that had been meted out in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case to six years in prison and a reduced fine of RM50 million.
The then-King had issued an additional order — independent of the Pardons Board — allowing Najib to serve the remainder of the updated sentence under house arrest. This drew into question the legality of such an order.
The High Court had dismissed Najib's application last December on the grounds that the addendum cannot be enforced, as the King "cannot decide on the issue independently of the Pardons Board".
Parties stress that two appeals are separate
On Friday, both Shafee and senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan stressed that both appeals were in essence separate matters.
However, they added that they needed more time to decide which appeal should be dispensed with first.
Shafee informed the court that Najib required about two to three weeks to reflect, while Shamsul said that they would need to seek instructions.
The court has set March 30 for case management.