FEDERAL COURT TO HEAR AGC’S LEAVE APPLICATION ON NAJIB'S ADDITIONAL DOCUMENT TOMORROW

KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 (Bernama) -- The Federal Court is scheduled to hear the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) application for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s ruling on the existence of an additional document in the case involving former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tomorrow.

Based on a check of the court system, the AGC’s application, filed via a notice of appeal on Feb 4, is scheduled for hearing at 9 am in Federal Court 1.

On Jan 6, in a 2-1 majority decision, the Court of Appeal remitted the case on Najib’s claim of the existence of an additional document purportedly allowing him to serve the remainder of his six-year prison sentence under house arrest, to the High Court to be heard on its merits. 

This decision overturned the High Court’s earlier ruling, which had dismissed his application for leave to commence a judicial review regarding the alleged additional document.

The 71-year-old is seeking a mandamus order compelling the respondents to confirm and disclose the existence of the alleged additional document dated Jan 29, 2024. 

He named the Home Minister, Commissioner-General of Prisons, Attorney-General, Pardons Board for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Director-General of the Legal Affairs Division in the Prime Minister’s Department and the Government of Malaysia as respondents.

The former Pekan member of parliament also sought an order that, should the additional document be proven to exist, all respondents or any one of them should enforce it immediately and transfer him from Kajang Prison to his residence in Kuala Lumpur to serve the remainder of his sentence. 

On July 3 last year, Justice Datuk Amarjeet Singh dismissed Najib’s application for leave to initiate a judicial review, ruling that the four affidavits submitted in support of his claim, which included statements by UMNO president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and UMNO vice president Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, were hearsay and inadmissible as evidence in court.

Najib has been serving his sentence at Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, following his conviction for misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd.

The High Court initially sentenced him to 12 years in prison and fined him RM210 million, a decision which was subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court. 

However, his petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022, resulted in the Pardons Board halving his prison sentence to six years and reducing his fine to RM50 million.

-- BERNAMA