KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has not formally been disqualified as a federal lawmaker yet, his lawyer Latheefa Koya said today, insisting the dismissal of the leader’s application for pardon should come directly from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the palace.
The lawyer claimed Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia had violated the Federal Constitution yesterday when he announced Anwar disqualification as Permatang Pauh MP based on a letter he received from the Royal Pardons Board.
This, she explained, is because without formal communication from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the announcement is deemed “premature”.
“The Yang Di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA) has the sole discretion to decide on a petition for a pardon in the Federal territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan. as provided in Article 42 of the Federal Constitution,” she said in a statement here.
The Royal Pardons Board is headed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Apart from the ruler, the board also includes Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor, and three other members appointed by the Agong on the recommendation of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“No decision on the rejection of the petition has been communicated to DSAI (Anwar) or his family, who in fact had made the pardon application, from the YDPA (Agong) or the palace,” Latheefa insisted.
Explaining further, the lawyer noted that the letter from the board had referred to an undated petition for pardon under Regulation 113, which she said allows a prisoner to apply for pardon from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
But, she stressed, Anwar had not been the one who sought pardon.
“Further, the letter states the pardons board made the decision on 16th March 2015.
“However this purported decision was only made known 10 days later via an affidavit in response to an application by Anwar to attend parliament,” she said, referring to Anwar’s judicial review of the prisons department’s decision to bar him from attending Parliament.
“As such both the speaker and the EC has fallen into serious error in considering that the pardon petition has been disposed of, and regarding the Permatang Pauh seat as vacant,” the lawyer added.
In the High Court yesterday, Senior federal counsel Amarjeet Singh supplied an affidavit from the pardons board and a letter from the Attorney-General’s Chambers to support his notice last week seeking a dismissal of Anwar’s judicial review application on grounds that he is no longer a lawmaker.
“On 16 March 2015, the Pardons Board rejected Anwar’s application for pardon, and since the (forfeiture) of his position of MP takes effect immediately under the Federal Constitution, there is no basis for the (judicial review) application to proceed, and it has been dismissed by the court,” Amarjeet said.
Anwar’s lawyers refused to accept dismissal, however, saying that they not received official notice on it from the Agong.
Shortly after the court case, Speaker Pandikar announced Anwar’s disqualification as MP and the Election Commission (EC) confirmed receiving a notice from the Dewan Rakyat of the seat vacancy.
On February 10, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s 2014 ruling that had reversed Anwar’s acquittal of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, also sentencing him to five years’ jail.
On February 24, Anwar’s family sent a request for a royal pardon to delay his disqualification from his Permatang Pauh seat. They also applied to the Prison Commissioner to give Anwar leave to attend Parliament.
However, they received a letter on March 4 from the Prisons Commissioner rejecting their application, prompting the decision to seek judicial review.
