KUALA LUMPUR – Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has applied for a judicial review to serve his remaining prison sentence which runs until 2028 under house arrest.
According to the notice of application filed on April 1, he alleged the existence of an addendum order issued by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong dated January 29, which had allowed for Najib to serve his remaining jail term under “house arrest”.
His application will be heard at the Kuala Lumpur High Court tomorrow.
In the notice, Najib named as respondents the home minister, the commissioner-general of the Prisons Department, the attorney-general, the Federal Territories’ Pardons Board, and the government.
The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) and the director-general of the Legal Affairs Division in the Prime Minister’s Department were also listed as respondents.
The former prime minister requested the respondents to confirm the addendum order’s existence – and if so, execute the order – provide original copies of it, and discuss any necessary reliefs the court deemed fit.
In his affidavit, Najib argued that the respondents’ failure or inaction to confirm and carry out the addendum order was a “direct intrusion of (his) basic right” under the Federal Constitution and other laws.
He also alleged that the respondents’ disregard of the request, which he said was an attempt to conceal the addendum order’s existence, constituted a direct contempt of the Agong’s institution.
Najib purported that the respondents’ non-action also breached Article 42(1) and (2) of the constitution, including when it is read together with Section 43 of the Prison Act 1995 – which states that the home minister and commissioner-general of the Prisons Department can allow the release of any prisoner on licence under reasonable conditions.
Under Article 42 of the Constitution, Najib said the 16th Agong’s power to grant pardons or reprieves is an unfettered discretion, which cannot be challenged in any court of law.
He also said the ruler was the “fountain of justice”, citing Articles 37, 39, and 42 of the same constitution. When read alongside Part 1 of the Constitution’s fourth schedule, the Agong’s prerogative of pardons is “absolute and unlimited”.
The former Umno president was convicted by the high court in July 2020 of corruption involving RM42 million of funds belonging to SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
He was sent to serve jail time in Kajang prison, after the Federal Court maintained the decision to hold him guilty of his SRC trial on August 23, 2022. He was to serve a total of 12 years.
However, on February 2, the Pardons Board secretariat for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Putrajaya announced Najib’s sentence was halved from 12 years to six, along with a decrease in his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million.
Nonetheless, failure to pay the fine would result in an additional year of imprisonment for Najib. – April 3, 2024