PURPORTED ADDENDUM ON NAJIB'S HOUSE ARREST NEVER DISCUSS AT PARDONS BOARD MEETING - SFC

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- The High Court here today was told that the purported existence of an addendum order allegedly authorising Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest was never discussed during the 61st Pardons Board Meeting.

Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan representing the government and six other respondents also submitted that the contents of the addendum order, as attached in an affidavit affirmed by Najib's son, Datuk Mohamad Nizar, were not discussed during the meeting chaired by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Jan 29, 2024.

He said that based on Article 42(1) of the Federal Constitution (FC), read together with Article 42(8), any decision of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong regarding a pardon application in the Federal Territory must be determined by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong through the Pardons Board at a meeting presided over by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

"At the conclusion of the Pardons Board meeting, the Secretariat of the Pardons Board will prepare the order for the approval of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Minister of the Federal Territory.

"In this regard, the imposition of house arrest as reflected in the addendum order was not deliberated at the 61st Pardons Board Meeting. Based on the Minutes of the 61st Pardons Board Meeting, only one decision was made during that meeting, namely the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s 50 per cent decision (on Najib’s SRC case),” he said during the substantive hearing of Najib's judicial review application on the addendum order.

He said in this instance, it is apparent that the addendum order was not deliberated at the 61st Pardons Board Meeting convened in accordance with Article 42(8) of the FC. As a result, the Pardons Board was unable to provide the advice mandated under Article 42(9).

"The addendum order was not issued in accordance with the proper procedural framework prescribed under Article 42(1) read together with Article 42(8) and Article 42(9) of the FC. Therefore, the addendum order is not legally enforceable.

"In these circumstances, any decision that was deliberated in a meeting with the Pardons Board presided over by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong 16 in the manner contemplated by Article 42 of the FC which includes the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s 50 per cent decision, is non justiciable," he added.

According to Shamsul, during the 61st Pardons Board Meeting chaired the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, His Majesty was requested to consider five pardon applications including Najib’s full pardon application following his conviction for misappropriating RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Shamsul added that in the said meeting, Yang di-Pertuan Agong proposed that the applicant (Najib) be granted a full pardon and requested the members of the Pardon Board to provide their views. The majority of the members of the Pardons Board expressed the view that the applicant should not be granted a full pardon.

"Thereafter, Yang di-Pertuan Agong proposed that the applicant be granted a 50 per cent reduction of applicant’s prison sentence and fine," he said.

Meanwhile, Najib's counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah submitted that the addendum order was valid and it exists.

"It has been more than a year (since the order was issued), this addendum order has not been enforced. My client is still in the prison and he should be under house arrest," he said.

Justice Alice Loke Yee Ching then fixed Jan 5 to deliver the decision.

On Aug 13, the Federal Court remitted the case to the High Court for a hearing on its merits before a new judge, after dismissing the Attorney General’s application for leave to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal regarding the said addendum.

Najib, 72, is seeking a mandamus order compelling the respondents to confirm and disclose the existence of the purported 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 MP also sought an order that, if the additional document is proven to exist, all or any of the respondents be compelled to enforce it immediately and transfer him from Kajang Prison to his residence in Kuala Lumpur to serve the remainder of his sentence.

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