Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail has filed an affidavit to back Najib Abdul Razak’s bid for home detention, saying that he too had been told about the alleged supplementary royal order for the former prime minister’s remaining jail sentence to be served under house arrest.
In his affidavit filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court last week, the Umno vice-president said he was informed about the royal addendum by International Trade and Investment Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz on Jan 30.
“He told me that the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong has issued an order to reduce (Najib’s) jail sentence by half and the fine imposed to RM50 million only.
“Secondly, along with the first decision, the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong has also issued another order (addendum order) for the applicant (Najib) to continue serving his remaining jail sentence by way of house arrest at (Najib’s) residence instead of any prison,” Wan Rosdy said in the court document sighted by Malaysiakini.
Based on the time stamp on the document, the menteri besar filed the affidavit on May 21.
According to Wan Rosdy, after being informed about the alleged supplementary order, he then attended a meeting with several other Umno leaders at Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s house in Kajang where the matter was discussed.
Zahid told the meeting that Zafrul had informed him the same earlier, said Wan Rosdy.
“He (Zahid) also said that he has read the addendum order as shown by Zafrul,” added the menteri besar.
Wan Rosdy claimed that besides himself and Zahid, others who were present during the meeting were Plantation and Commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani, Deputy Works Minister Ahmad Maslan, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said.
However, Wan Rosdy in his affidavit conceded that he does not have a copy of the alleged royal addendum dated Jan 29, due to reasons of secrecy and appropriateness (kewajaran).
The affidavit named seven respondents, including the federal government, the home minister, the attorney-general, and the Pardons Board for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya.
Wan Rosdy was the second Umno leader known to have filed an affidavit against the federal government over the alleged house arrest order.
Previously, Zahid filed his affidavit on April 9 backing Najib’s bid for home detention.
Wan Rosdy’s affidavit ‘too late’
However, according to correspondence by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to the civil court dated May 23, the legal representative for the government is objecting to Najib's bid to insert Wan Rosdy’s affidavit into the proceedings.
The AGC contended that this is because Najib’s bid for court leave to insert the additional affidavit by Wan Rosdy came very late in the judicial review proceedings.
The respondents’ legal representative contended that the Rules of Court 2012 do not permit such late filings, especially when the civil court had heard the parties' oral submissions on April 17, and had set June 5 to decide whether Najib can obtain leave to proceed with the judicial review.
If the civil court grants leave, then it would set a later date to hear the parties’ oral submissions on the merits of the legal action.
Najib is seeking leave to commence a judicial review for the implementation of an alleged supplementary order by the previous Yang di-Pertuan Agong linked to the partial pardon that halved his jail sentence to six years and discounted his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million.
On April 1, while serving jail time at the Kajang Prison over the RM42 million SRC International corruption case, Najib filed the judicial review leave application.
According to Najib’s affidavit in support of his judicial review, the former Pekan MP claimed that the king’s main royal order allowing the partial pardon was accompanied by a supplementary royal order containing the house arrest provision.
The former Umno president is seeking a court order to compel the home minister, the attorney-general, the Pardons Board, the federal government, and a few other respondents to confirm this alleged addendum.
According to a copy of the judicial review bid, Najib claimed that the Agong issued the addendum on Jan 29, the same day as the main partial pardon order.
Najib also seeks a court order to compel the respondents to “forthwith remove the applicant from Kajang prison facility to his known residences in Kuala Lumpur, where the applicant would continue to serve his imprisonment sentence under house arrest.”
He also seeks a mandamus order to compel the respondents to provide the original version of the royal addendum, costs, and any other relief deemed fit by the court.
He claimed in his affidavit to support the judicial review that his rights had been adversely affected and infringed upon by the respondents in ignoring his inquiries over the alleged royal addendum.
He claimed that the respondents’ disregard of his request constituted a direct intrusion of his basic rights under the Federal Constitution and also amounted to direct contempt of the Agong.
Najib further alleged that the respondents are trying to conceal the existence of the alleged royal addendum. - Mkini
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