Don’t defy royal order, Najib’s lawyers urge AGC

 Najib Razak’s legal team says any arguments challenging the conditional pardon order would amount to defying the king’s command.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers had said yesterday that ‘complex legal questions’ had arisen over the discharge order issued by the High Court.

PETALING JAYA:

Najib Razak’s legal team has urged the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) to withdraw its proposal to defer his house arrest, and said the prisons department must immediately transfer Najib to his residence.

A statement from the legal firm of Shafee & Co said Istana Negara had declared today that any arguments challenging the conditional pardon order would amount to defying the king’s command, and a statement by the AGC today should be read as an act of “clear defiance”.

“As of the issuance of this statement, our client remains in Kajang prison and no effect appears to have been given to His Majesty’s command,” the statement read. The commissioner-general of prisons was urged to transfer Najib immediately to his residence and the AGC was urged to withdraw its “temporary suspension” of house arrest. The statement said the king’s order “must be carried out today”.

Yesterday, the AGC had called for Najib’s house arrest to be deferred until a review of “complex legal questions” over the discharge order issued by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur. It said the questions related to jail sentences of two court cases involving Najib.

However, Istana Negara said earlier today that the pardon order was unambiguous and unrelated to any other cases, and there should be no prolonged delays in implementing the order.

In another statement today, the AGC said the issues raised yesterday did not concern the validity or authority of the order for the conditional pardon but was over the legal effect of the High Court’s discharge order.

In response, Najib’s lawyers said it was not for any court, “much less the attorney-general”, to revisit the king’s exercise of the power of pardon. - FMT