KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — The High Court today fixed July 3 to decide on former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's legal bid to compel the federal government and the Pardons Board to produce a purported "supplementary order” from the previous Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
High Court judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh Serjit Singh rescheduled the new verdict date after the court initially fixed today for a decision on Najib's application for leave to seek judicial review.
For those who filed lawsuits through judicial review applications, they will have to first get the court’s leave or permission for the lawsuit to be heard.
Senior federal counsels Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi and Shamsul Bolhassan appeared on behalf of the federal government and the Pardons Board; while Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah appeared for Najib.
When met outside the court, Ahmad Hanir confirmed the rescheduled court date following the filing of a new application by Najib to include two new affidavits, namely those belonging to Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail and Najib himself.
Wan Rosdy's affidavit relates to him backing Najib's ongoing bid through affirmation of the "supplementary order” or Addendum Order existence; whereas Najib's affidavit relates to excerpts from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's speech during PKR's 25th anniversary special convention held in April.
Ahmad Hanir said the court, after hearing submissions from parties in chambers, subsequently allowed Najib's application despite objections raised by the Attorney General Chambers over the affidavits' last-minute filing.
In objecting to Najib's application, they argued it was done far too late after parties had filed their written and oral submissions on April 17, with the court having fixed a decision date for today initially.
Wan Rosdy's affidavit was filed on May 21 while Najib's affidavit was filed on May 23 respectively which is almost a month after submissions were heard.
A total of seven respondents were named in Najib’s suit, namely the home minister, the Commissioner General of Prisons, the Attorney General, the Federal Territories Pardons Board, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), the Director General of Legal Affairs Division and the Malaysian government.
In his application for leave to seek judicial review filed on April 1, Najib claimed Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah issued the order during the January 29 meeting of the board, for the former to serve the remainder of his reduced sentence under house arrest.
In the application, Najib alleged that he received confirmation on February 12 about the issuance of the "supplementary order” or Addendum Order, which would allow him to serve his reduced prison sentence under the condition of "home arrest” instead of Kajang Prison.
On February 2, the Pardon’s Board halved Najib’s sentence from a 12-year prison term to six years for misappropriating funds amounting to RM42 million, which means he may be released earlier on August 23, 2028.
Najib has been imprisoned since August 23, 2022, after the Federal Court upheld his conviction for criminal breach of trust, power abuse, and money laundering over the misappropriation of SRC International Sdn Bhd’s funds.
The Pardon’s Board said it had also decided to reduce his RM210 million fine to RM50 million, and his early release would be contingent on him paying this amount.
Other reliefs sought by Najib include for the court to compel the respondents to execute said supplementary order.
