PUTRAJAYA — The Court of Appeal today postponed its hearing of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s bid to serve the remainder of his jail term under house arrest due to the submission of new evidence supporting the existence of a royal addendum order.
The appellate court, which was supposed to begin hearing Najib’s appeal today, postponed proceedings after Najib’s lead counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah informed the court of an application to adduce fresh evidence.
The information, the lawyer said, was obtained on December 2. The defence filed an application for the submission of new evidence the following day.
Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan confirmed that since the Attorney-General’s Chambers was only served with the application yesterday, time is required to go through the documents and verify their authenticity.
“We may or may not reply to the (supplementary) affidavit, but as of now, we need time to determine our reply,” Shamsul told the appellate court panel chaired by judge Datuk Azizah Nawawi alongside Datuk Azhahari Kamal Ramli and Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril.
The court is to determine a new date to hear the application for the supplementary affidavit, which Shafee later confirmed was filed by Najib’s son Datuk Mohd Nizar Najib.
Speaking to the media outside the court, Shafee said Nizar’s supplementary affidavit is on an addendum order from the Pahang royal palace.
Nizar, according to Shafee, had received the addendum document from the palace “under the direction of” state ruler Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah. Nizar is a Pahang state exco member and Peramu Jaya assemblyman.
“There’s a kind of protective order in place now (over the supplementary affidavit), but what I can tell you about its contents is that it’s exactly what we have known before – (Najib) is allowed to serve the balance of his prison sentence under house arrest,” Shafee told the press.
“This fresh evidence will conclusively prove the existence of the royal addendum order (allowing Najib’s house arrest), with the document signed on the same day as the main royal order on (Najib’s) reduced sentence,” the lawyer said.
He said Najib’s legal team believes the document is “120% true and accurate”, Shafee, however, insisted that Najib will still have a strong case if the court determines against accepting Nizar’s supplementary affidavit.
When asked why the information was only made available to Najib’s legal team recently, Shafee claimed that Sultan Abdullah, who chaired the Pardons Board as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong until January 30 this year, might have wanted to avoid “public controversy”.
“In the most respectful way possible, I think that (Sultan Abdullah) remained aloof. However, it will be one year soon since the addendum order was issued, and it’s not fair to (Najib).”
On July 3, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that Najib had failed to show he had an arguable case to warrant a full hearing of his proposed judicial review application seeking for the government to enforce a purported royal addendum allowing his house arrest.
In delivering his verdict, justice Datuk Amarjeet Singh said the statements contained in affidavits filed by Najib, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the party’s vice-president Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, who is also the Pahang menteri besar, were hearsay and inadmissible as evidence.
Najib is contending that there exists a royal addendum order for him to service the remainder of his prison sentence for corruption in the SRC International case under house arrest, alongside the Federal Territories Pardons Board’s decision to halve his imprisonment from 12 years to six.
His fine was also reduced from RM210 million to RM50 million.
The former prime minister is currently serving his jail sentence at the Kajang Prison. – December 5, 2024