PUTRAJAYA — Lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah today said the addendum order by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong for Datuk Seri Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest was provided to the Pardons Board and its secretariat last year.
The lead defence counsel for former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the order was addressed to then Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh.
“However, somebody is hiding the addendum order. Until today we haven’t seen the official order that the Sultan of Pahang signed and provided to the (pardons) board and secretariat.
“He signed it on January 29 (2024). On Jan 30 he travelled back to Pahang, escorted by Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
“So what did the former AG do with the addendum?
“We want to know and we want to punish the person who hid this addendum,” Shafee told reporters outside the court after the Court of Appeal ruled in a 2-1 decision to send Najib’s judicial review application on the addendum order back to the high court for hearing.
In the appellate court today, however, Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan said the addendum order was never discussed by the Federal Territories Pardons Board at its meeting on Jan 29, 2024, when it decided on Najib’s reduced sentence for his conviction for corruption in the SRC International case.
“The addendum was not considered at the Pardons Board’s meeting,” the AG’s Chambers officer told the three-judge panel today.
Shamsul said the only decision made that day by the board, which the Agong chairs, was to reduce Najib’s prison sentence and fine.
Outside the court, Shafee said he expects the AG’s Chambers to challenge the validity of the addendum order, if its existence is true.
“I think they will then say that it is not valid, if it exists. Which to me, will be a difficult climb. Once the Agong signs, it doesn’t matter if the processes are not valid, because the order is valid.”
Shafee reiterated Article 42 of the Federal Constitution on the King’s prerogative regarding prisoner pardons, remission, suspension or commutation of sentences.
The lawyer stressed the article’s wording, that the king exercises his power “with the advice from the Pardons Board” which he chairs.
“This means the Agong is not just part of the pardons board. He presides over it. He is a superior being, almost floating over the pardons board. He doesn’t have to listen to the board’s advice,” said Shafee.
Shafee earlier today submitted as evidence to the Court of Appeal a letter signed by the Comptroller of the Pahang Royal House to Najib’s son Datuk Mohamad Nizar Najib, confirming that the Sultan of Pahang as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong had decreed Najib complete the remainder of his prison sentence under house arrest through an addendum order dated Jan 29, 2024.
The letter is to confirm an earlier affidavit Nizar filed last month that included the addendum order which was unsigned because it was Sultan Abdullah’s “personal record”, according to Shafee.
The lawyer said the AG’s Chambers did not file any affidavit to dispute the letter, nor had it even answered queries filed by Najib’s defence team previously on the addendum.
Welcoming the Court of Appeal’s decision today, Shafee said his client was happy and gave “two thumbs up” upon hearing the court’s decision.
He said case management has been fixed for Jan 13 in the high court with a new judge.
“We will ask the new judge to hear it as quickly as possible. It is now one year that Najib has not had the benefit of the addendum order,” Shafee said.
Najib, 71, had filed a judicial review to confirm the existence of the addendum order and for its implementation so that he can be removed from Kajang Prison, where he currently is, and be placed under house arrest.
He named as respondents, the Malaysian Government, the Home Minister; the Commissioner-General of Prisons; the Attorney-General; the Pardons Board for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya; the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (PMD) (Law and Institutional Reform) and Director-General of Legal Affairs Division at PMD.
The high court in July last year dismissed his application for leave for the judicial review, and also rejected supporting affidavits filed by Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Pahang Menteri Nesar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail as hearsay. – January 6, 2025
