Malaysia High Court defers decision on Najib's house arrest bid
The High Court also allowed Najib to insert two affidavits.
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak is seen here being escorted by prison authorities during a break at the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex on Apr 17, 2024. (Photo: CNA/Fadza Ishak)
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's High Court on Wednesday (Jun 5) deferred a decision on whether former prime minister Najib Razak can proceed with his bid to serve the remainder of his jail term under house arrest.
The court allowed Najib's application to insert two more affidavits to his leave application and will hear the case again on Jul 3, said senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan from the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC).
One of the affidavits was filed by Pahang Chief Minister Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, while the other centred on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s speech at the 5th Convention of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in Shah Alam in April.
"The AGC objected to the two affidavits as they were filed at the very last minute, which was yesterday, when the court had already set today for the decision on the leave application," said Mr Shamsul.
“However, the court’s allowed the application to insert the affidavits,” he told reporters after the proceedings on Wednesday, which were held in chambers.
Najib’s lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah also confirmed that the affidavits were accepted by the court.
Najib, imprisoned since Aug 23, 2022 for corruption offences, is trying to compel the government to produce an addendum order reportedly issued by Malaysia’s former king Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin of Pahang that allows him to serve the rest of his sentence at home.
He has been jailed in Kajang Prison since the Federal Court upheld his conviction for criminal breach of trust, power abuse and money laundering over the misappropriation of SRC International funds. SRC International is a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
He is slated to be released on Aug 23, 2028.
His 12-year sentence had been reduced to six years in a partial royal pardon, a decision made at a January meeting which angered the nation but was ultimately acknowledged as a prerogative of the then-king.
Najib, 70, also claims that Sultan Abdullah had also issued a “supplementary decree” to let him serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest.
In his judicial review application filed on Apr 1, Najib said he had received information of the existence of this decree, and questioned why the government allegedly omitted it when announcing his partial pardon on Feb 2.
Prior to that, the six-member Pardons Board met on Jan 29 to decide on Najib’s pardon application, one day before Sultan Abdullah ended his reign as Malaysia’s monarch and handed the throne to Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar.
Apart from halving Najib’s jail sentence from 12 years to six years, the Pardons Board also reduced his RM210 million (US$44.5 million) fine to RM50 million. The board is not legally required to give reasons for its decisions.
Najib, who served as prime minister from 2009 to 2018 and is the first Malaysian prime minister to be jailed, still faces corruption charges in three separate cases.
