The Kuala Lumpur High Court deferred to July 3 its decision on whether to grant leave for Najib Abdul Razak to proceed with his judicial review over an alleged royal addendum allowing him to serve the remainder of his six-year jail sentence as house arrest.
The deferment from today's initially scheduled decision followed on the heels of judge Amarjeet Singh this morning allowing Najib's bid to insert new affidavits from himself as well as Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail in support of the former prime minister’s legal action.
Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi from the Attorney-General’s Chambers confirmed what had transpired after the chamber’s proceedings.
The counsel represented the 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.
If the civil court grants leave on July 3, it will set a later date to hear the parties’ oral submissions on the merits of the legal action.
It was reported that in his affidavit, Wan Rosdy claimed that he too had been told about the alleged supplementary royal order for the former finance minister’s remaining jail sentence to be served under house arrest.
The Umno vice-president said he was informed by Investment, Trade and Industry 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 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.
Meeting at Zahid’s house
After being informed about the alleged supplementary order, he said he met 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 him 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 secrecy and appropriateness.
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.
The AGC had previously objected to Wan Rosdy’s late filings of the affidavit.
Najib’s legal action
Najib’s legal action seeks 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 several 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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