KUALA LUMPUR – The high court, here, has fixed April 17 to hear Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s application for leave to commence judicial review to serve his remaining prison sentence under house arrest.
Previously, the hearing was initially scheduled for April 14. It was then subsequently rescheduled to today before judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh due to its urgency.
However, today it has now been postponed to a later date following a request by Najib’s counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, who informed the court that he needed to obtain one more signature for an affidavit supporting Najib’s application.
“In lieu of urgency, we (have) asked for an earlier date. Unfortunately, one of the most critical witnesses, who is supposed to sign (an) affidavit, has left for Mecca…and the person is expected to be back in time for Aidilfitri (next week).
“And this affidavit is critical. Even at this stage, I just require a very short adjournment,” he said.
The court then allowed his request to have the hearing scheduled for April 17, after no objection was recorded from senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly who appeared for respondents in the suit.
Shafee, when approached by the media, kept mum on the identity of the mystery witness.
Not today: judge bars Bar from joining as watching brief
Earlier, the court dismissed the Malaysian Bar’s application to participate in the suit proceedings as a watching brief.
Amarjeet told the Bar’s lawyer Abhilaash Subramaniam “not today”, and instructed him to “come back” if leave for Najib’s application is granted.
Abhilaash had attempted to advocate for the council’s case, saying that the council recently passed a resolution to challenge the Pardons Board’s decision.
He added that the council indeed holds an interest in the suit, even at the leave-hearing stage.
He also argued in court that the court could have used its discretion to approve his application. However, Amarjeet told him that he chose not to exercise his discretion.
Najib, 70, filed a judicial review on April 1, alleging that there is an addendum order issued by the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong dated January 29, which allowed Najib to serve his remaining jail term under ‘house arrest’.
In the application, he named the home minister, the commissioner-general of the Prisons Department, 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 defendants.
Najib requested the respondents to confirm the addendum order exists – if so, to execute the order, provide original copies of it, and discuss any necessary reliefs the court deems fit.
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 for 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 4, 2024.