KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz will be seeking legal advice to correct certain wrong facts in an affidavit supporting former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s bid to serve his remaining prison term under house arrest.
In a statement today, Tengku Zafrul, who is the international trade and investment minister, said that he intends to file his own affidavit in response to the one signed by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
“I will be taking steps to obtain appropriate legal advice and seek to write to the high court to ask for permission or leave to file an affidavit to correct certain factual errors contained in (Zahid’s) affidavit.
“I take no position in so far as the merits of the ongoing dispute is concerned, but I merely wish to ensure that the factual record is properly reflected and recorded so that all parties, in particular the high court, is properly appraised of all material facts,” he added.
Tengku Zafrul said his move will allow for a “fair and just decision” to be made in the interest of all parties concerned.
Zahid, who was named as a critical witness in Najib’s judicial review against the government, has backed the latter’s request concerning a royal supplementary order allowing his house arrest.
The Umno president’s affidavit filed at the high court on April 9 claimed that during a meeting at his house in Country Heights, Kajang, Tengku Zafrul had informed him of the existence of the addendum order dated January 29.
Zahid said in his affidavit that Tengku Zafrul had shown him a copy of the order on his phone “which he personally photographed/scanned from an original copy as shown to the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong.”
Zahid also confirmed that the addendum order was genuine because it bore the royal seal and the signature of the former king.
He also claimed that a copy of the document was in the collective possession of the respondents named in Najib’s judicial review application, including the attorney-general retaining an original copy.
Najib has named the home minister, the commissioner-general of prisons, the attorney-general, the Federal Territories Pardons Board, the government, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (law and institutional reform), as well as the director-general of the legal affairs division in the Prime Minister’s Department, as the respondents.
News reports on Zahid’s affidavit, which was available online via the court’s e-filing system, were published after Najib’s counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah requested for today’s court proceedings to be held in chambers due to its “sensitive nature”.
When approached by the media later, Shafee insisted that the affidavit was not publicly accessible and cautioned against reporting on its alleged content.
However, a source has since told Scoop that there was no court order yet against the publication of the affidavit, as Shafee had merely made an oral application before the court earlier today.
Najib, 70, filed the judicial review application on April 1, alleging that there was an addendum order issued by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong dated January 29 allowing the former Umno president to serve his remaining jail term under house arrest.
The former prime minister, currently serving his sentence for corruption in the SRC International case, requested that the respondents confirm the addendum order exists – and if so, to execute the order, provide original copies of it and discuss any necessary reliefs the court deems fit.
Najib’s prison sentence was halved by the Federal Territories Pardons Board at its meeting on January 29 from 12 years to six, and his fine was lowered from RM210 million to RM50 million. – April 17, 2024